Family Ties, Truth Be Told
by SakuNarHina
Summary: As Naruto and Hinata begin their relationship, a secret revealed brings new meaning to Naruto's Heritage. Will this revelation affect their budding romance, and who is this mysterious woman he encounters? Is she friend, foe or something more?
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

Rated 'T' just in case.

**Disclaimer:** Hmmm... copy and paste preferred disclaimer here...

I do not own Naruto or anything having to do with the original plot. The only things I do claim are my OCs, my continuing plot, and the jutsus I have created. Any likeness relating to pre-created jutsus are unintended and will be explained upon discovery.

_"Thinking or Inner converstation / Dreams"_

_**"Kyuubi speaking"**_

_"Normal speech"_

(Author's Note)

* * *

**Family Ties, Truth Be Told**

**Prologue**

"Mmm," she sounded off. _"It's... warm... and light?"_ She thought to herself, taking note in the brightness from the window shining through her closed eyelids. Feeling a small weight on her hip, she groggily opened her eyes to find the cause.

She thought she was waking up but it was such a familiar sight that she saw all the time in her dreams... so she must be dreaming now. The love of her life was sleeping next to her peacefully, but something was different... She groggily lifted her head to look around. Naruto's hand was resting casually on her hip and their bodies were so close together she could still feel his breath on her skin.

This was new. The scenery was new. But it was nice, though it seemed way too familiar. Bathed in the morning warmth, she looked towards the source. Upon looking out the window, last night's events started coming back to her.

_"Wait... morning?!"_ She thought frantically, sitting up. "Naruto, wake up!" She whispered sharply, gently shaking his shoulder. "We fell asleep!"

"Yeah, it was nice," he muttered, still half asleep and slightly blushing at whatever thoughts were going through his head.

This hadn't gotten past Hinata, however. She was conflicted between embarrassment and shock... but mostly embarrassment.

Applying herself back to the situation at hand, Hinata knew of one thing that was sure to wake him up.

The blond merely stirred to the familiar moisture on his lips. Finally opening his eyes just crack, his blurred vision showed that of a long dark haired figure with a red hue on her cheeks and closed eyes. The beautiful visage was now pulling away, once again opening her own eyes but not before a somewhat michevious thought struck him and had him closing his eyes again before she noticed, hoping to get some more easy lip action.

Slightly disappointed that he had not really woken up, or so she thought, she too had a michevious idea strike her.

With a beliveable fake gasp, Hinata perfectly acted out a panicked tone of voice as she said, "Naruto! Where's my clothes?!"

A moment ago, he had barely been suppressing a smile until he heard her words. His eyes snapped open and he sat upright in the bed, looking around before his eyes fell on his new girlfriend. At some point in time, she managed to cover herself neckdown with Naruto's blanket, effectively fooling him into think she was truely naked underneath.

"Wha-?! I-I... uhhh," unable to find the words, his eyes swept around the room unable to find any clothes on the ground. Finally looking down at himself, his panicked state finally startle to settle down as he realized he, himself, was still fully clothed. Taking another look at his princess, she had dropped the blankets to reveal that she too, was in fact fully clothed and barely stifling her giggles.

"Hinata-chan... You really had me for a moment there."

Without showing it, he was silently surprised by his dreamless sleep. Normally he would have been inflicted with a formless speech surrounded by the usual darkness, but this time... nothing. He did remember one thing though. It was not a dream, more like... a single image...

A darkish-haired woman with pretty brown eyes and a carefree smile...

Hinata giggled some more and then leaned her weight upon her hand on the bed and the other on Naruto's hip like he had been doing... or what she thought was his hip. She wasn't paying attention at first, but soon turned her head at feeling the odd curvature. It clicked in her mind that it was not exactly his hip... it was in fact, _Naruto_. She pulled her hand away so fast, she might've hit herself in the face. The certain blush on her face was now covered by both hands with muffled words coming from behind them.

"I-I-I-I-I'm s-so s-s-sorry N-N-Na-Naruto-kun! I-I d-didn't mean t-to..." She panicked, now sitting upright. She risked a peak at him through separated fingers.

"Oh, no, no, no, Hinata-chan. It's not what you think!" He tried to explain. With some effort, he managed to pull one of her hands away from her face, realing the predictable hue of her cheeks.

"See, look..." He stuffed his hand in his pocket and pulled out the blue box. It's edges were now a bit dented, but overall, still intact. The seal on the ribbon had faded by now and it became just a normal ribbon.

"W-Wha-What's t-that?" Hinata asked, now curious but clearly not completely over the ordeal.  
"Dunno, Baa-chan gave it to me. I forgot all about it," he answered a bit sheepishly.

"A-Are you going to open it?" She asked, barely getting over the most previous incident.  
Without answering, Naruto pulled on the ribbon undoing its knot. He let it fall to his lap. Next he took off the lid and fitted it underneath the box in his palm. At last, with building anticipation, he peered inside. Sunlight glinted off a shiny metal.

"W-What is it?" The timid girl asked breaking the silence, even more curious than before.  
Naruto broke off the staring contest he was giving the object to glance at the questioning kunoichi next to him. Her eyes moved from Naruto to the object in his hand. He returned his gaze back on the box. He finally dipped his index finger and thumb inside to remove the mysterious item that held their attention.

"It's..." He started. He held the dangling oval object from its chain for them both to see.

"...a locket?" Hinata finished for him before gasping at a sudden idea popping into her head.

"What?" The blond asked, looking slightly worried for some reason.

"M-Maybe she wanted us to put our p-pictures in it...?" She guessed, blushing once again.  
Naruto's eyes widened at her statement. Blood rushed to his cheeks to match the color of hers.

"Th-That's impossible! She didn't know about us at the time..." Naruto surprised himself slightly at the use of the word _'us' _and sneaked a peek at the beauty next to him to see if she made any sort of reaction as well. Though she tried to hide it, her cheeks told him that she caught it too.

"I... didn't even know about us," she returned, trying to quietly sneak in the comment, though surprising on Naruto's behalf, not unnoticed by him.

This time not daring to sneak another peak at the blond boy, Hinata was now only gazing at the hanging locket, entranced by its features she had somehow missed the first time. Naruto decided to do the same.

"It looks expensive," he said, bluntly stating the obvious.

The locket hung from a silver and gold entwined chain. The two halves of the locket, which were also separated by silver and gold, had extensive designs on them. The silver side was etched with the spiral symbol that Naruto bares as the Uzumaki family crest. In the background, as if behind the 'spiral', there was an extensive carving of a large body of water beyond a cliff, presumably the sea, complete with birds, waves and... a whirlpool?

_"What the hell is that supposed to mean...?"_ Naruto asked himself inwardly, perplexed. Like usual, he did not give it any further thought and turned the shiny object over.

The gold side was much like the silver except it was bestowed with Konohagakure's symbol for 'Leaf'. Behind the Leaf symbol was another extensive, but different, sculpture. Unlike the other side, it was a view seen by him on a daily basis. Though it looked a little different, it was his home. It was Konoha.

It appeared to be carved a long time ago as it looked almsot the same as it used to before the Chuunin Exam invasion a while back; which caused much needed repairs to the village.

Naruto guided his thumb across its surface, feeling every curve and bump in its design. He then noticed another difference in it's design. The Hokage mountain. It did not bare the face of the Fifth Hokage. It was definately old. Though old, it was very well kempt; otherwise, it would have been hard or next to impossible to make out its features.

"Wow..." They both muttered at last, entranced by its entricate design.

"O-Open it," Hinata suggested breathlessly, finally breaking the spell over themselves.

Naruto hadn't even thought of the possibility of it being opened. He was surprised at the suggestion at first, but then fumbled with the object for a few seconds before locating the button in which to open it. He pushed it, allowing the gold door to spring open revealing even more surprises.

What they had expected to be empty was, in fact, quite the opposite. On the inside of the locket, directly in the middle, was a small folding heart that not only served as the hinge for the two doors, but also as a press, to keep the two pictures pinned in place.

**The pictures...**

The silver side held a picture of a beautiful woman with long red hair and hazel or maybe brown eyes that were almost too hard to decipher due to the fading of the image. Though it was just a picture, the woman's radiant smile gave forth such a serene feeling that it washed over Naruto, locking his gaze. For some reason, this woman seemed so close to him, yet so distant.

Naruto's eyes finally wondered over to the other picture. Naruto let out a disappointed sigh. It was a man, that much he knew for sure. The firm jaw line, short spikey blond hair, and the adam's apple told him so. But the most important part of the face, the middle, was faded beyond recognition; almost dilberately?

Naruto was abruptly brought out of his trance by the sharp breath intake from the girl who had been quiet for quite some time. Naruto looked at her queastioningly. After a short while, he decided her silence was not helping so he followed her gaze back to the locket. After further inspection, he noticed something under the male's picture.

_"An enscription?"_ He thought to himself. Getting a closer look at the tiny letters on the mini plaque, he could barely make out the name... Nomikazo Minoto. _"Who's that?" _He asked himself inwardly. _"Well if this picture has one, then the other..." _His eyes raced to the other picture and focused hard on the tiny letters. Had this been what had stopped Hinata cold... this name? He looked at the name in disbelief before examining the above picture for a long minute. Finally, he then switched his intent stare back to the other name. He focused even harder on it this time. If he looked surprised before, it was nothing compared to his face now.

Naruto's breath was caught in his lungs. His heart seemed to skip a beat or two. The look on his face was torn between horror and stupidy with a mix of relief, and at last, realization. His eyes were transfixed on this newfound discovery. The name of his parents... and with them, for some unknown reason, a genjutsu seemed to have lifted as neither of the pictures seemed to have faded one bit.

_**Uzumaki Kushina **__and __**Namikaze Minato!!**_

"WHAAAT?!"

* * *

**A/N:** Now I hope I have hooked you into the story with this prologue because this is the sequel to _**Troubled Decisions, Tears of Joy.**_ If you have not read the prequel, please do so. This portion of the story focuses more on the Action/Mystery/Adventure portions. I'd like to think that I put enough action into the story for it to fall into that category.

Ok, now for those of you that have already read this part of the story, you may notice a change. This prologue was originally part of the last chapter of the the prequel, but upon request and attempt to improve the story, I have made this change. I hope you all enjoy it more this way.

Until Next Time...**  
**


	2. Flashbacks and Furballs

**Chapter One**

**Flashbacks and Furballs**

_**  
**_Memories came back to him. A tell-tale sign that the clone was reporting in. He had given his clones instructions to create a clone before dispersing, that way, his search could continue without interruption.

Even in a dangerous situation, the clone knew to create a backup clone just in case, that way, if destroyed, ground would not be lost and he would not have to send another clone to traverse over the long distances.

So far, his clone had not come into a situation in which he did not have the chance to create a new one.

Time was running short.

This particular clone had made it a long way and was running low on chakra. Making new clones and running into countless troublesome situations would start to take a toll on even Naruto. Especially when it's just a clone with its total chakra capacity cut in two between him and the original.

Back in Konoha, the original Naruto knew that he would soon have to create a new clone and have it travel the long distance again to continue where the other clone left off.

Judging by the amount of chakra it has left, the clone would only be able to create one more clone and there would not even be enough chakra left to keep it under full henge this time.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." (Clone POV)

A rather pale looking Naruto appeared in a cloud of smoke next to the other Naruto, who in fact, did not look like Naruto at all. Actually, it was a rough looking man with short black hair, though still keeping the same spikey hairstyle. He bore a blank hitai-ate and the usual shinobi vest for a Jounin in hopes that anyone who spotted him would believe he is a certainly capable fighter and keep their distance.

He actually looked much like a thug with a five-o-clock shadow and a Gaara-like disposition.

Knowing its mental instructions, the pale clone set off running. Jumping through the trees would use too much chakra and he was running dangerously low as it is. He might be able to make it a few more miles before being forcibly dispersed.

Only about twenty minutes into his run, his sixth sense kicked him in the face as he suddenly sensed killing intent somewhere around him.

The original Naruto knew it would only be a matter of time before his last clone dispersed, so he decided to send a new one in advance to make up for lost ground. And since this new clone he was sending hadn't already traveled through three different countries, it was sure to stand up to most problems sent his way.

Unexpectedly, more memories clouded his mind... prematurely. A moment after deciphering the mental images, he was able to deduct one thing... He was attacked.

_"Looking a bit sick, aren't you?" Came the condescending voice followed by a light chuckle. "Your village is sending out sick ninja now, are they?" He implied from his unknown position, noting the clone's headband._

_  
The Naruto clone was thankful that he had at least kept the blank hitai-ate. He looked around, eyeing his surroundings. He was still in the Grass country but a quick look around told him he was nearing the Earth country as the trees and other foliage became fewer and fewer in number but were still plenty._

_  
"I'm just passing through, leave me be," he requested in a slightly weak voice, trying to force as much bravado into his sentence as he could._

_  
"Nah uh. You are in Kusa territory without permission. You could be a spy," he accused, once again noting his __blank__ hitai-ate. _

_"I cannot let you live."_

_"Whatever happened to capturing your so-called 'spies'?" He called out sarcastically, ryring the trees around him._

_"Spies don't get to live anyways... I will extract what you know beofore I kill you," replied the battle depraved grass ninja as if it were an everyday occurance._

_  
Rustling in the leaves behind him was heard. With a kunai in hand and guard up, he quickly turned around to face the noise._

_Peering through the openings in the branches of a tall oak tree, his trained eye could barely make out the grass symbol on what was most likely an ANBU mask._

_For the moment, all he could do was prepare himself for whatever was to come._

_  
"Konoha Danmaku no Jutsu!" _(Leaf Barrage Technique)

_As the name suggests, a barrage of leaves separated from the tree, leaving it bare, fully revealing the enemy pouring chakra into the tree through his right hand and possibly his feet as well. _

_"Leaves?" He thought, unimpressed._

_  
As if reading his expression, "Don't underestimate me!" _

_With the use of a few quick handsigns, the once harmless leaves were given a metallic glint and were sent hurtling towards the blond clone in waves. _

_  
Naruto had just a second to examine the jutsu. The leaves no longer looked as they were when attached to the tree, limp and harmless... and leafy. Now they were stiff and hardened like a kunai, and certainly just as deadly._

_  
Instinctively, he whiped out a second kunai and started batting away leaves as if they were kunai. The ANBU character let out a "Hmph" and performed a single handsign. With this, the leaves realease its metallic form and were, once again, harmless._

_  
More of what he thought were still deadly leaves flew at him. He met one with his kunai, surprised as the leaf unexpectedly split in two by the sharp blade of his right handed weapon. _

_With what must have been another few quick handsigns by the enemy, the split leaf gave off another metallic shimmer just before slicing into Naruto's shoulder, just grazing him while the other half barely missed. _

_With merely a single cut into the clone, it was over... Or not?_

_The perplexed clone dodged the last of the leaves by jumping a few feet away behind a broken tree stump while the deadly metallic leaves followed his trail and thudded into and around the tree stump, he took this time to look at his shoulder wound expectantly. The cloth were torn through showing a small red cut underneath. _

_"How am I still here?" He thought incredulously, obviously knowing he should have dispersed._

_  
It felt a bit strange as his remaining chakra seemed to forcefully gather around his cut shoulder. At that moment, a wild thought ran through his mind that let him hope that his wound would be healed as the chakra gathered around it. A moment later, his newfound hope slowly diminished along with his remaining chakra as it became evident it was actually leaking through the cut, as if temporarily keeping him from dispersing. _

_Smirking, he took a look at his right hand. The small blue band on his middle finger, as if tattooed there, was fading. Somehow, for some reason unkown to him, he knew as soon as it was gone, he'd be 'gone'. It wasn't as good as actually healing the wound, but it was better than nothing._

_  
The enemy nin moved in for the finishing blow._

_  
"Kontei Douran no Jutsu!"_ (Root Upheaval Technique)

_Oddly, the few trees around him creaked and moaned. Without any further warning, thin and thick tree roots alike came spouting up from the ground on all sides, destroying the tree trunk shield he was hiding behind and entriely engulfing Naruto in a array of piercings and punctures. Without even the time to scream his pain, he poofed away._

_  
"A clone?! But how? He took a hit!" The bewildered grass ANBU looked around expectantly._

_  
_Naruto snapped out of his daze as the memories sunk in. Baffled, he looked at his own hand as his clone had done. It still showed off the blue ring around his finger, though not actually a ring anymore. He remembered how he had gotten it only two weeks ago.

_**-Flashback-**_

Loud incoherent noises be be heard as well as stamping feet and finally a muffled, "Hey, you can't go in there!"

Regardless of the man's words, the door crashed open, doorknob slamming into the opposing wall leaving its impression; all to reveal a panting and seemingly angry Naruto.

Tsunade had been hunched over her desk sleeping peacefully on her rumpled paperwork with a (most likely empty) bottle of sake in hand. The moment the door slammed open, she woke with a start, inadvertently knocking over the bottle assumed to be empty, spilling its precious liquid over her already ruined paperwork.

At first more worried about her soggy papers, she had yet to realize what was going on. Looking up, she groggily stared at the two struggling ninja at her doorway, unaware of the ink that was now lettered onto her face from her paperwork.

Blinking the haze from her eyes, she deciphered who it was in her office and the grave realization gave her brain a jumpstart.

She observed the blond ninja with a, once crazy-shy, Hyuuga girl sort of in one hand and in the other...

Tsunade's eyes got slightly bigger for a brief moment and her dumbstruck expression turned into one of worry and anticipation.

Hinata was desperately trying to hold Naruto back. Their steamy encounter the night before must have sky-rocketed her confidence because she hadn't even given it any thought that she was holding Naruto's hand in public, even if it was to just hold him back.

Hinata's right hand was holding onto the door frame in an attempt to keep her ground while the wrist of the crazed Naruto was in the other. Though her arm sockets were clearly being strained, the once timid and supposedly 'weak' little girl was with-holding any signs of pain. She held on, closing her eyes tight with sheer concentration.

After a few more moments, Hinata knew she could not hold on any longer. So as not to be pulled along by him once more, she abruptly let him go.

Caught off-guard by the sudden lack of tension in her grip, Naruto practically threw himself forward, stumbling into the idle chairs in front of him and finally head first into something alot harder and definately much more sturdy.

With semi-low moans of pain, he rolled himself onto his back and propped himself up on one elbow while desperately trying to rub the pain out of his forehead where it made contact with the edge of Tsunade's desk.

Leaning on the desk for support, Naruto slowly got to his feet, momentarily forgetting where he was or why he was there, probably because the possible concussion he was now suffering from.

After the room stopped spinning and the dizziness cleared from his head and the nauseousness finally died down, his eyes finally met the Hokage's. Suddenly, he remembered what he was doing.

Tsunade had forced herself to look serious but pounding laughter at Naruto's stupor was threatening to break through as always.

Naruto gave Tsunade's face a quick 'once-over'. Momentarily distracted, he found it funny that she sat there trying to look serious with ink all over her face.

_"She had been sleeping," _he thought amusedly.

To her surprise, Naruto chuckled at this revelation, and with a disturbing calmness, he gently placed the locket before her and said one word...

"Explain."

After a moment of unnerving silence, Naruto's rare calm mood dissapated quickly.

_**  
**_"What's the meaning of this, Baa-chan?!" He exploded.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." She answered, trying to sound innocent while giving him a shrug.

"Don't give me that! How come no one ever told me before?" He asked heatedly.

"Technically, you've yet to be litterally told about it," she replied matter-of-factly. "And therefore I can't get in trouble because _technically_, you found out yourself."

"Huh?"

Seeing his momentary stupid spell as a chance to change the subject, she continued, "Since you have that, I assume Hinata has given you her present then?" She asked, looking at his hands but quicky producing a somewhat angry frown on her face. She shot a glance at Hinata who insticntively flinched from her scowl.

"Present?" He replied distractedly, and switched his own gaze to Hinata.

Said girl was taken aback at the sudden attention she was getting at the doorway but upon hearing about 'her present' she started patting her pockets frantcally with a very worried expression on her face.

"I-I-I-I-" she sputtered, after not feeling it anywhere on her person, she thought about her jacket still somewhere in Naruto's apartment. They had left so quickly, she forgot all about it. She was suddenly embarrassed to be out in public in her tight fitting shirt and tight jeans and remembering the reason why she was still in her current attire. None-the-less, horror was still evident on her face as she turned her gaze back to Tsunade's expectant scowl.

"You dont have-" Tsunade's worried yet angered voice started out before being interrupted by the blond's.

"You mean this?" He asked dubiously as he pulled out a little black box with a crinkled red ribbon on it. "Hinata had it on her when she fainted yesterday so I put it in my pocket so she wouldn't lose it... I forgot all about it," he revealed innocently.

Tsunade tried to hide her relief as she sat back in her seat, attempting to relax.

Hinata on the other hand, was overcome with emotion as she embraced Naruto in a very grateful hug. Realizing what she had just done, she quickly released him and jumped back a few feet now blushing madly and pressing her index fingers together while her eyes became intent on getting acquainted with the floor.

Even Naruto was surprised by the by this relapse in her demeanor despite what had happened between them the night before but quickly deduced the reasoning behind it... their one person audience.

Tsunade, oblivious to the previous night's romantic events, merely shrugged it off as 'normal'.

"Are you going to open it?" Naruto heard for the second time that day, except this time it was coming from a slightly impatient Hokage.

Naruto's mind jumped at the idea as he removed the ribbon like he had done with the other, but this time he put it in his pocket. Now he slowly opened the small box, a big contrast to his newly excited state of mind.

Like Hinata had been before, Naruto was easily entranced by the ring. It had an onyx black marble ring band with a clear round stone on top.

He finally removed the ring from its container and in his entranced state, he slowly set the box on Tsunade's desk, not once removing his eyes from the thing that held his attention even more so than the locket had.

He now held the ring in two hands, between his thumbs and index fingers. Upon his touch, the once clear gemstone flared into a flaming blue.

"Put it on," Tsunade instructed, holding back her anxiousness.

Whether it was a suggestion or a demand, Naruto couldn't tell, but he could hear the anxiety in her voice, even though she had been trying to hide it. For some reason, he wanted nothing more than to put it on his finger like she said. Somehow, he managed to hold of his dire need to put the ring on to ask a question.

"What's it do?" He asked bluntly, still transfixed on the object.

With a disappointed sigh, she obliged to his question... In a blatantly bored tone of voice, she was already done explaining its properties only a few minutes later. Everything she had told Hinata, he now knew... minus the part about his possible death, however improbable it was; but seeing how it wasn't going to come to that, he need not know anyways.

After hearing her words, his resolve to put on the ring only strengthened. He slowly moved the ring to meet the tip of his right middle finger. His mind raced with all the possibilities the ring could bring him before finally taking one last breath and sliding it over his knuckle. It was alittle loose at first, but amazingly, or magically, it shrunk perfectly to fit his finger snugly.

A moment later, the now blue gemstone shone brightly and the onyx ring band crumbled to the floor. The blue gemstone literally melted around his finger and instantly dried there before its glow finally faded. It still had an odd shine to it.

"Well that was cool... But I don't feel any different-"

The two girls in the room let out a relieved yet disappointed sigh but immediately shot back to full attention as Naruto was cut of in his sentence.

"Wha-?" He tried to say with some difficulty. He put one hand to his stomache and then suddenly became very weak in the knees. He immediately began sweating and panting. It felt as if he had just been training his Wind Manipulation again. All his chakra seemed to be... shrinking. His vision suddenly went blurry and his legs finally gave out.

With a thud to the floor, Naruto lost consciousness. He could barely hear the muffled yells in his ear coming from the two females.

"Naruto!"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

**(Other POV, still part of flashback)**

"What is it?" Asked a familiar harsh toned voice.

"Hiashi-sama. I am sorry to disturb you. Tsunade-sama has requested me to inform you that your daughter, Hyuuga Hinata, is currently at the Hokage tower helping her with an important matter. She also regrets to inform you that you were not notified sooner," the masked man revealed.

"So be it..." Was his monotonous reply. Walking back inside, he could be heard saying something to the point of "Some daughter she turned out to be..."

The ANBU character then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"...ruto... Naruto... Naru- Look, he's waking up!" A yet undetermined voice said to someone else.

His blurry vision showed that of dark and blonde long haired women peering over him.

"Huh? Wha... happened?" He said at last, slightly disoriented.

"You fainted..." Said a blunt familair voice. "It was rather unmanly, too..." She added sarcastically before the exhausted Naruto weakly tried to swat her away, knowing it had to be the old bat.

"Naruto...?" Came another, more sweeter voice before he fell back into darkness.

A few hours later and he found himself waking up yet again. Wide eyed and worried, he looked around panicked for some reason. He was still in the Hokage's office. After his quick look-around, he notice Hinata sitting up groggily from her sitting position on the floor while sleeping over Naruto's legs. With another look around, he could see Tsunade snoring away at her desk with a surprise to him, no sake in her drunken hand.

"If you keep that up, you're gonna have even more writing on you face," he called out in Tsunade's direction.

At the sound of his voice, she shot up and looked around dumbly.

"Naruto!" Came the other familiar voice once again. He looked to see a now fully awake Hinata staring him down with an estatic look on her face. "I was worried! Are you feeling alright? You're not-"

"Whoa whoa, calm down Hina-chan..."

_"Hina...chan?"_ She repeated in her mind. She blushed at her new nickname.

"I'm fine," he answered both their worried faces. Tsunade was now getting up from her chair as it skooted back noisily and was now walking over to him. He inadvertantly looked out the window behind her and noticed it was dusk.

"How come I'm not in the hospital?" He asked, noting the time of day and how long he was out.

"Pssh, as if you need to be in the hospital when I'm around... besides, there's nothing physically wrong with you," she answered confidently.

"Mmm..." Came his doubtful reply.

Seeing this, Tsunade answered his unsaid question. "It was just your body adapting to the ring... How do you feel, by the way?"

Naruto swung his feet off the sofa and stood up with overused strength. "Whoa... I feel... lighter?"

"Hmmm... interesting." She simply replied.

_**-Really long flashback over-**_

_**  
**_So far nothing he learned from his clones were of any help, other than the attack style of his most recent encounter. Unfortunately, it didn't help him on his personal mission.

"Naruto-kun... Naruto-kun," the voice was sounding more and more impatient, "NARUTO!"

"Huh?" He'd been spacing out again. He usually did that whenever his clone's memories came back to him.

"What's the matter with you lately?" The voice showed a hint of concern, but mostly irritation.

"If you keep spacing out like that, you're going to put yourself and others in danger," she lectured.

"But-" He started to counter.

"No 'buts' about it! What if I had been an enemy? You'd be dead already," she said sternly.

He still didn't see what could be so dangerous. It was only Ichiraku's ramen stand. Unless Teuchi-san was going to strangle him with a wet noodle, he really had nothing to worry about. But ignoring Sakura could lead to a potentially lethal situation as well. One thing was for sure, she had definately started reverting back to her old self again.

"What was with that clone you just sent out anyways?" She asked, sounding curious.

"Oh that..." He had sent out that clone completely absent-mindedly. At that moment, he forgot he was having lunch with Sakura. She said something like, she "owed" it to him or something. It was still a bit awkward on his side though. He still felt bad about what happened.

**"Someone as stupid as you can't hide this forever," **the harsh voice sounded inside his head. Supposedly, the ring helped to hold back _it's_chakra, but it sure didn't hold back _it's _nagging voice.

_"Shut up!"_ He commanded inwardly.

**"Moron," **it returned in a dull manner.

_"Whatever happened to that long silence that was going so peacefully before?" _He asked the fuzz ball, aggitated.

**"I was bored," **it replied simply, too stuck up to admit it was mostly because of Sasuke.

Naruto was making wierd faces. He had informed Sakura of the 'conversations' he'd have with the _tenant _living inside him. She figured this was one of those times. She cleared her throat in an attempt to regain his attention and his gaze actually fell back upon her at last. That rarely worked... if ever!

"Well? You obviously have something on your mind and if it has you too distracted to listen to _me_, then it must be serious," she said, sounding even more stuck up than the Kyuubi and alot like Ino at the same time.

**"Get over yourself, girl," **it spoke again. With great concentration, Naruto ignored it this time. He let out a sigh.

"I suppose you deserve to know, being my teammate and all..."

Not expecting this sort of statement from her now close friend, Sakura's curiosity peaked at this point. She tried to keep the majority of her attention on her ramen rather than Naruto even though she was almost dying to stare him down with unbending curiosity.

"Well, um... I learned who my parents were-"

"Really?!" She choked on her noodles. "Who are they?"

"_Were_," he corrected.

"Oh," she frowned.

"My mother's name is Kushina Uzumaki-"

"Is?" She questioned, noticing he used 'is' instead of 'was'.

"Well yeah. Her body was never found so she could still be alive... or at least I hope so... Anyways, that's what that clone was for. I'm sending them out hoping to dig up some clues." He then scarfed down a few more mouthfulls of his pork ramen before continuing.

"She gave me my parents' locket... in that box.," he revealed. Sakura nodded in understanding.

"My father's name was Minato-"

"Minato!? As in the-"

"Yup, the Fourth Hokage," he finished for her. She sat there stunned. She could now see the resemblance. The noodles she had in her chopsticks slipped out and landed in her lap, breaking her out of her trance.

Teuchi yelped as he burnt himself on the stove. Obviously he was taken by surprise by what he learned from listening in.

"But you can't breath a word about it to anyone! Got it?"

Sakura nodded.

"You got that, old man?" He spoke to Teuchi.

"Yeah, yeah," he replied as he put his burnt hand under a cold tap.

* * *

**A/N: **What did you think? I think I like how it turned out but I'm not too fond of giving Tsunade all those alcholic tendacies so I'm going to work on lessing that. I"ve have already started doing so if you haven't noticed... her bottle wasn't completely empty. Anyways...

I have decided to include an explanation of the jutsus I create in my stories, just not until they are executed in the story itself. Here they are...

**Konoha Danmaku no Jutsu (Leaf Barrage Technique)** - Removes the leaves from any plant and hurtles their hardened, metalic form at the opponent. With the use of a single handseal, the user can manipulate the leaves to become hard or soft at will. (Can be used with pine trees as well to replicate the senbon effect.)

**Kontei Douran no Jutsu (Root Upheaval Technique) - **Opens up the ground to let loose any and all roots to attack the user. The power of the jutsu depends on how much foliage is around as well as how much chakra is put into its performance.

Until Next Time...


	3. Searching for Hope

**Chapter Two**

**Searching For Hope**

_"So how did she die?"_

_Tsunade was taken aback at his sudden bluntness._

_"I-" She sighed hopelessly. "I don't know. Her body was never found amongst the wreckage." A pang of guilt suddenly hit her._

_Naruto looked flabbergasted. "So you just assumed-"_

_"She never turned up," she said more sternly, eyeing him down with her cold stare._

_Saying Naruto looked disappointed would be an understatement._

_"Besides, I wasn't there afterwards..."_

_"But you __**were**__ there...?" He inquired stubbornly._

_"It's why I left!" She retorted angrily._

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Sakura listened intently, drawn in by his recollection.

"She _might_ still be alive," he put out desperately.

"Naruto..." A low sorrowful voice.

Naruto frowned at her lack of inspiration. She clearly didn't believe him.

"... Don't you think she would have turned up by now?" She tried to convince him while also trying to ignore his disapproving glare.

"I-I don't know... and neither do you! Something could've happened..." He retorted, filling himself with false hope from his own words.

"Memory!" He practically shouted after a moment of thought.

"Huh?" She let out, confused and slightly startled by his sudden outburst.

"She could have lost it... her memory. A head injury or something!" He starting thinking further into it.

**"I ate her," **it said amusedly.

"Shut up!" He blurted out vehemently to the inner voice, earning an surprised look from his teammate, taken aback by his sudden outburst.

"What...?" He said at last, noting the awkward stare she was giving him.

"You've hardly touched your food," she pointed out, pushing past his unexpected outburst. "That's not like you, mental crisis or not."

Seeing the truth behind her words, he quickly engulfed the rest of his, now cold, bowl of ramen before ordering one more.

After they had finally finished eating, Naruto generously payed and they both wandered off to wherever their feet took them.

"So what are you gonna do?" The curious kunoichi asked, making conversation.

"Continue what I'm doing now... I tried to have Baa-chan let me go to the Land of the Whirpool to check her whereabouts but she said no."

Sakura gave the blond a 'no duh' kind of look. He continued, oblivious as usual.

"Apparently, the Land of Whirlpool no longer exists. She said it was destroyed in the Second Great Shinobi War between Wind and Fire country. Standing between the two countries, it hosted the battle ground between them. Most of the war refugees went to the Land of Rain but my mother ended up here, in Konoha," he explained in a wise-man kind of tone.

Sakura held back her urge to say "I already knew all that" but at the same time, she was astonished at Naruto's newfound intellect, even if he was informed of all that by Tsunade-sama. If he had only put that kind of memory to use in the academy, he wouldn't have been such a poor ninja to start out.

"So she let me send out clones instead, just so long as I kept them under the effects of henge so as not to attract attention to Konoha..."

Sakura was surprised to hear this, but since he was using henge, it should be alright.

"Other than learning more and more about espionage, it hasn't gotten me anywhere with clues about my mother."

"That's too bad, but at least you are learning something useful. How long have you been at it?"

"Since the day after the 'locket' incident... um, almost three weeks."

They slowly came to a stop, looking around while doing so. They had ended up at one of the training grounds. The same one when they...

Both were apparently thinking the same thing. Naruto looked away, racked with guilt while Sakura looked at the ground, crestfallen.

"Oh! I've also been training with some ideas for a few new techniques. It's one of the other things I learned from my clones," he blurted out, effectively changing the unsaid topic.

"Lets spar," she suddenly suggested, now eager to learn of his new moves.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Hey guys, over here! Come sit with us!" Yelled a voice from across the restuarant. The blonde was waving her hand in the air frantically in an attempt to get their attention, as if her screaming wasn't enough.

"Ah crap..." Said another voice in a dull tune just before two more people joined them at their window-side table.

"What's up guys?" Asked _another _voice, but this time muffled.

Ino smacked him upside the head mercilessly. "How many times do I have to tell you Chouji? Don't talk with your mouth full!"

Chouji almost lost the food from his mouth from the unexpected blow, but a quick hand slapped to his mouth prevented that.

With a sigh, the other voice could be heard saying, "How annoying..."

Ino shot him a look. Shikamaru just ignored the scowl and continued staring out the window with his next words, "How did I get stuck with you two?"

The newcomer stifled a giggle and the rest of the tabled turned their gaze on her, except Shikamaru of course. She almost immediately started blushing at the sudden attention she was recieving and looked away.

Kiba let out a laugh of his own before motioning his companion to sit before him.

"What are you two doing here?" Chouji asked, this time his mouth surprisingly void of half-chewed food.

"Just grabbing a bite to eat," he replied, with a sheepish grin and a hand behind his head.

"Really...? Without Shino-kun?" The blonde remarked with her usual mischevious sneer creeping onto her face.

Hinata, who had just gotten over her blush, started turning red again and looked as though she wanted to run away had she not been sitting between Kiba and Shikamaru.

"He's... busy," Kiba replied uncomfortably, avoiding her gaze.

Ino didn't buy it for one minute, but amazingly, she let it go, though still holding her suspicious glare.

Shikamaru just sat there lazily at his window seat. While doing so, he watched his partial view of the clouds slowly inch by.

"Hey, where's-" the muffled voice of Chouji was cut off by another smack from Ino.

"Where's Akamaru?" She finished for him.

"He's right outside... He's too big now to come in here anymore."

"Where out-" Ino started saying as she turned her gaze towards the window. Just then, as if on cue, a big fury head popped into view at the window, covering at least half of it.

The big excited dog let out a deep bark as he made his appearance.

The unsuspecting Chuunin let out a small yelp as the furry beast appeared right in his face, though on the other side of the window pane. Had they not been seperated by the thin glass, Shikamaru surely would have been covered in drool. Instead, he looked as though he was having a heart attack with his hand clutch to his fishnet chest with the look of shock plowed onto his face.

Ino, though thoroughly surprised, laughed at Shikamaru's discomfort. Chouji, who had ran out of grilled meat, stared from Akamaru to his burning grill and back to Akamaru again.

Seeing how Chouji was drooling at the sight of his dog, he snapped a finger in his face. Not having phased him a single bit, he instead landed a kick to his shin under the table. This worked.

Hinata kept silent. At that moment, Shino decided to walk through the door.

Kiba slapped a hand to his face in clear distaste at the turn of events, ignoring Chouji's disgruntled yells. Ino's sneer returned to her face as she looked from Hinata to Kiba.

"Where you been?" A somewhat recovered Shikamaru asked.

"Just got back from a mission," he replied from behind his jacket collar.

Kiba removed his hand from his face and smiled inwardly, very thankful that his quick lie turned out to be true.

"How'd you know where to find us?" Kiba asked, still slightly unnerved.

He simply pointed at the window that Akamaru had been fogging up with his breath.

"Oh," a few of them let out at once.

"Where's Naruto?" Shino asked, not losing a beat.

"Nice to see you too," Ino replied sarcastically.

"A-Ano... " The quiet Hinata began, "W-We saw h-him and S-Sakura walking towards the t-t-training grounds by I-Ichiraku's stand," she stuttered.

Kiba frowned at her observance. _He_ hadn't noticed either of them on their way here. That was probably because he was too distracted with dragging Hinata to the restaurant when he saw her walking down the street. Upon thinking about it more, it dawned on him. She wasn't _just_ walking down the street...

"Thanks," Shino said as he began to turn away.

"Why'd you want to know?" Kiba asked curious as to why more and more people were beginning to take an interest in the blond boy.

"The Hokage wanted me to locate him... Apparently, I may have learned something on my mission concerning his... search," he replied, trying to sound discrete at the end.

"Search?" Ino repeated.

"You'll have to ask him for details, for I am not at liberty to discuss the matter," he replied in his usual monotonous tone, silently wishing he hadn't mentioned the matter through the curious stares he was recieving.

Of course, Ino only became even more interested, but couldn't ask anything else as Shino was already walking out the door.

"Damn it," she muttered, disappointed.

"Well I'm outta here," Shikamaru stated plainly. Probably irritated that he could no longer see the clouds out of his foggy window. He climbed over the back of his seat and walked away, mumbling something about troublesome dogs.

At the sound of the 'ding' from the bell above the door, he was gone.

Chouji could be easily heard barking for another order of barbeque pork.

Hinata poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher that was sitting on the table in front of her.

"Sooo..." Ino started, once again looking back and forth from Kiba to Hinata. "You two an item now?"

Hinata choked on her water and started blushing madly.

"Well..." Kiba started, smiling.

"No!" Hinata blurted out, louder than she intended. She smacked a hand to her mouth.

Kiba was shocked at the quiet girl's sudden outburst. Ino was taken aback as well, but soon leaned in as if she was about to hear a secret.

"Why so adamant about it?" Ino asked deviously.

Kiba stared at the, once again, withdrawn girl.

"I-I-I...I'm with... s-someone else," she revealed reluctantly.

"Oh?!" Ino squealed excitedly.

Once again, Kiba was shocked, but dumbfounded at the same time.

"Who is it? Who? C'mon, you gotta tell me! You been after Naruto all these years, I can't think of who else you could possibly be after..."

"A-Actually, it ... is h-him," Hinata whispered as quietly as possible, her heart thumping so hard it threatened to drown out her voice.

"Hm? Say again?" Ino pushed, not quite catching what she said.

"I-I _am _wit-with Na-Naruto-kun," she repeated, alittle louder this time and even more hesitantly.

If the attention she was getting from her curious onlookers continued much longer, unconsciousness would sure be imminent. Even Chouji had stopped chewing to stare at her.

"What?!" Ino blurted out incredulously. "But I thought... I'm gonna have to have a talk with that girl. Ugh! She never tells me anything anymore," she fumed, referring to a certain pink haired medic friend.

Having heard it the first time, Kiba was shot down even further hearing it twice. "Uh... I just remembered. I... uh, have to go do something... Cya!" With conflicted emotions drawn all over his face, he withdrew from his seat.

Akamaru barked in agreement. Kiba jumped out of his seat and headed for the door.

_'Ding'_

Chouji resumed the battle he was having with his barbeque pork, pretending to not be paying attention anymore. This is probably what saved Hinata's consciousness.

Ino's gaze had never broken from Hinata's wondering stare.

"So how did you two-"

Her sentence was interrupted by a deafening roar off in the distance followed by heavy vibrations all around them that reverberated off the windows like thunder.

Startled screams could be heard inside and out.

"What the hell was that?!" Ino yelled. Springing up from her seat, she ran out of the door and looked towards the source of the booming sound. Off in the distance, a huge billow of smoke could be seen rising above the buildings and heading in her direction.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Over here, over here!" A boy yelled to another before a ball was passed to him.

Shino kept walking silently passed the playing boys and their game of kick-ball. He had already passed the ramen stand several minutes ago and the training ground was coming into view.

"Look out, mister!" One of the boys yelled behind him. He sensed it coming and knew it was going to miss so he paid no attention to the cry. A red ball was soon zooming past his head. A second later, an over-bearing booming sound was heard ahead of him as the red ball stopped in mid-air, now controlled by the following gust of powerful wind, throwing the ball back in the direction it came.

As dust and debris flew past him, Shino got down on one knee to better stabilize his balance and shielded his face with his arms.

In the gap between his arms, he watched as a large, man-sized piece of earth was uplifted and carried through the air.

"My child!!" Was the muffled cry over the sound of the roaring wind.

Shino looked back to see one of the small boys. He must've been a ninja academy student as he was barely holding onto the ground beneath him with his weak chakra control. He lost his hold. Fortunately, Shino made it to him in time and caught him just as the wind started to carry him away.

"Look out!" The boy yelled to his savior. Shino looked up to see the uplifted piece of earth heading straight for them.

Merely a few feet from their position, the piece of earth was stopped by a hug black swarm of something. With a muffled yell from Shino, the bugs disintegrated the large piece of earth and bits of it were flying in their faces and hair. A few seconds later, the wind was finally starting to settle down.

With the immediate danger now gone, Shino let the boy go, who in turn, ran to his mother while yelling, "Thank you, Mister!"

The dust still had not settled. Without his bugs, Shino would have been walking blind. Stepping on uneven ground, he almost lost his footing more than once, but soon found himself at the epic-center of the catastrophe. Being at the center, the veiw was clear. The dust had almost completely settled already but behind him, it was still quite dense.

Walking further into the scene, he eyed his surroundings. The ground was broken and upheaved except for the _very _center where there was a decent sized crater.

"What could cause this magnitude of distruction?" He asked himself silently.

Looking further on, He saw one... no, two figures. An orange clad ninja, apparently shielding the other with his own body. They were held up against a fallen tree.

Several members of ANBU were now showing up at the scene, as well as a few other ninja.

* * *

**A/N:** Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. What did you guys like or dislike? Anything that can help make the story better is much appreciated.

Until Next Time...


	4. Mad Skillz

**Chapter Three**

**Mad Skillz**

"What the hell were you thinking?! Someone could have gotten seriously injured! You could have gotten Sakura hurt!"

"I didn't know that was going to happen! I never used it like that before... I didn't even think it was going to work," he heartily defended.

"Well it did!

"_What..._ was it?" A curious masked Jounin asked.

"It was something my clones picked up from their travels," the blond answered.

"Which was...?" The Jounin asked again.

"Fuuton: Bunshin Bakuhatsu no Jutsu." (Wind Style: Clone Detonation/Explosion)

"Really, that's it?" The side-tracked Hokage asked, now looking slightly impressed, stealing a glance at his finger.

"But that is a short range technique... The blast radius was enormous. And its status _was_A-rank... Now I'd say it is S-rank," informed Kakashi, joining Tsunade with being impressed.

"Never before have I seen such strong winds from a simple explosion..." He continued, more professionally.

"Well I combined it with my wind manipulation... It was my first time trying it like that so I didn't think it would work, but since it did..." Naruto took on a look of deep contemplation for a moment before looking unexplicably excited, causing a few raised eyebrows in the room.

"All that wind wasn't just from the explosion..." Before he could finish, Tsunade and even Kakashi suddenly went slack jawed with disappointment at his obvious deduction but were soon intrigued by his explanation.

"... If the explosion itself doesn't stop the target, then all that dust kicked up from that wind could be used as cover for further attack or even escape, if neccessary," becoming engrossed in this newfound tactic, his mind started racing with possibilities.

"Ahem," Tsunade cleared her throat to regain her authority as well as the blond boy's attention. Understandably, it took a second try before Naruto came out of his trance.

"Obviously, you couldn't control it yet. I do not want you practicing that technique anywhere near this Village. If you are to continue with this technique, you must be at least one mile away from any popultated areas. Understood?"

Naruto simply looked at her, dumbfounded that she would even suggest that he 'might not' further train this new jutsu. Finally, he nodded his head in compliance.

By now, Tsunade's and Kakashi's astonished faces were long gone as they had regained their composure.

Sakura, on the other hand, just stood there, still dazed from the effects of witnessing his new jutsu first-hand. She was a bit bruised and scraped up, but otherwise okay.

"So... You are already implementing it into other techniques?" Kakashi asked, looking as emotionless as usual behind his mask.

"Of course!" Naruto sounded promptly, if not cocky.

"The rest of your are dismissed," Tsundade interrupted. The accompanying ANBU vanished.

Shino still stood in the background, awaiting his turn.

"Can I help you?" Tsunade sounded impatiently at his ignorance of her dismissal.

"I wish to speak with Naruto about his... _search_."

Tsunade's look of irritation subsided as she remembered the order she gave him to find the blond to speak to him about his findings. She had only wished he wasn't here because she knew she was soon about to endure another Naruto-induced headache.

Said blond turned his full attention on the bug-boy.

"Go ahead," the blond woman motioned him, flapping her hand at him casually.

"Naruto, have any of your clones been to the Earth Country yet, by any chance?"

Taking a second to search his memories, he answered, "No, it was the last place on my list. I almost made it there earlier today before my clone was attacked," he revealed nonchalantly.

"Attacked?" Tsunade and Kakashi enquired at once.

"Yeah, it was nothing." he replied in another dull tune that would have rivaled that of Shikamaru. "Why do you ask?"

"Hmm... I saw someone who resembled you. I knew your clones were traversing through the different countries under henge, so I thought it may have been you."

"What did this person look like, exactly?" Asked the now interested blond Hokage. She and Shino had only, spoken briefly about his findings so any real detail of the said mystery person was of yet, unknown to her.

Naruto was starting to get fidgety, clearly trying to hold in his easily mustered anticipation.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Seishin Manako!"(Mind's Eye) The blond readied herself, activating her newfound Kekkai Genkai.

"I'm coming, prepare yourself!" Yelled the dark haired woman.

"Sanposeishin no Jutsu!"(Mindwalk Technique)

The dark haired woman threw out a few swift chakra powered punches and kicks, nearly connecting with her target.

"It's no use. I know what you are going to do before you do it!" The blonde gloated.

"It doesn't matter whether you know what I'm going to do or not if you're too slow to stop it...!" With that said, the dark haired woman spun around on her heel and aimed a kick to the blond girl's chest. It was blocked by two arms in a defensive position.

"Ugh!"

"Told you. You need to learn to combine your techniques..." The woman chastised.

After only few more minutes of sparring, the blond gave it a try.

"Seishin-Dageki no Jutsu!" (Mind-Blow Technique) Through the sheer look of concentration on the girl's face and the slightly trembling arms and legs, the mental and physical strain on her body was clearly visible as the inexperienced kunoichi combined her jutsus with Sanposeishin already activated.

"Don't overdue it!" Through her warning, the dark haired woman charged back in relentlessly.  
With a renewed look of determination, the blonde activated _one of _the properties of her newly activated jutsu.

The charging woman adopted look of surprise as her knee unwillingly buckled beneath her. As an experienced kunoichi, she took the fall and rolled with it. Using the gained momentum from the fall, she turned the roll into a flip as she pushed off the ground with both hands. With quick skilled action, she was now soaring just inches above the blond's head.

With a chakra controlled tap to the side of the blond's head, her already exhausted mind easily succumbed to her will and she was harmlessly knocked unconscious.

"Phew... Almost lost that time..." the dark haired woman revealed to herself, slightly out of breath.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"C'mon Baa-chan! You gotta let me go! You heard what bug-boy said!"

Behind Naruto, Shino audibly snorted at the comment while Tsunade held back a laugh at his reaction to the blond's comment.

Tsunade let out a defeated sigh. She had once told Naruto that she couldn't let his real self leave without a definate lead... This just so happened to be one of those times. They had a lead. She said she would let him go if it came to that, but she honestly thought it would never come to that.

"Alright, Naruto," Tsunade complied with a hopeless sigh, "But only if Shino accompanies you."

"What?! Not him!" Naruto complained, shamelessly pointing an index finger at Shino with distaste in her decision. "He's _boring_!" He reasoned stupidly.

"Ok, fine. You can stay here," she replied with a smug look on her face.

"What?!" He said again, suddenly bug-eyed.

"Then it's settled. Shino will go with you since he knows the layout better than you do... _especially since you don't know it at all..._" She added derisively.

"Fine," he complied with bitter distaste.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Several minutes later, Naruto, accompanied with Shino, managed to find a worried looking Hinata amongst the crowd of people who were now inspecting the destruction of the training grounds caused by Naruto only thirty minutes ago.

"Ah, Hina-hime!" He called out to her.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called back, looking most relieved and taken aback at her new nickname.

Kiba, who had shown up only minutes before, looked at him in disgust. "What are you doing here, loser?"

"Shut up, dog breath. Hey Hina-"

"W-What happened here? I knew you were training h-here a little while ago. When I saw this d-destruction, I became so worried!" She asked with pleading eyes and hands clasped together at her chest.

"Oh that, hehe... That was me, my bad. Didn't mean to worry you."

Upon hearing this revelation, Kiba nearly shit his pants. "_You_ did this?!" He asked incredulously, waving an arm at the training grounds.

"Yeah, dog-boy. Now shut your yap so I can talk..."

Kiba looked appalled. _"How strong has he gotten?" _He asked himself inwardly.

"Anyways, Hina-chan. I got a mission. I'll be going to the Earth Country to check a lead on my family."

"Y-You got a lead? T-That's great!" She replied with less stutter.

"Yeah, but I have no idea when I'll be back..."

Hinata's excitement was suddenly shot back down to earth. "T-That's ok. I'll be waiting," she replied with even less stutter and more sadness.

Naruto gave her a genuine smile and pecked a kiss on her lips. "Bye, Hinata-hime." With his cool ninja skills, Naruto was gone in a flash with Shino close behind.

Hinata was left blushing madly with a furiously jealous Kiba behind her. They had never shown their affection in public before and being called a princess...

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

An hour later, Naruto and Shino were at the North gates of Konoha after they were done preparing for departure.

"Let's go," Shino said dryly.

"Yosh!" The excited blond replied.

Several miles later, Shino actually said something...

"I sense someone."

"You're just barely sensing him?" Naruto asked skeptically. Behind his sunglasses, Shino furrowed his brow in silent disbelief.

"That's my clone. I sent him out only a few hours ago."

"I see," he replied cooly, turnong his gaze back to the front.

"I didn't think I'd be following behind him so soon. I guess now he can be our guide in case anything happens ahead of us."

Shino merely nodded in agreement. The rest of that day was unnaturally quiet with Naruto there.

"He's stopping?"

"So?" Replied Naruto.

"Why?"

"It's dark... He may be a clone, but he's still gotta rest or else he'll disperse if he's too fatigued," Naruto answered in an all-knowing sort of tone.

"Then perhaps we should stop as well so as to keep him ahead of us. There's no rush."

"Mm," Naruto nodded in agreement.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"You gotta be kidding me? It was obvious. He liked you!"

"No, he did not... I would know, I _experienced_ it first. You only saw it in my mind," she said, tapping her temple for good measure.

"He was totally hitting on you. You were too focused on that boring guy."

"He wasn't boring! He was just... serious all the time."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that..." She retorted with a chuckle.

"I will! Besides, it doesn't matter now... None of it does..." She added sadly.

"Why?"

"Because... They're all..."

Knowingly, she put two and two together. "Oh... how?"

"I... don't know for sure. I didn't stick around..."

"Wha..." The blonde looked at her in disbelief. "So you just _assumed..._"

The other woman shot her a death glare, immediately stopping her in her tracks.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"The Kyuubi Jinchuriki is on the move. He is being accompanied with one other. Now is the best time to move in."

"Very well," replied a voice in a dry tone.

Red clouded cloaks fluttered as they moved out.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Morning light was shining through the trees and birds were chirping their happy songs. A soft breeze carried through the forest, stirring up a few leaves and rustling a few hairs.

"Get up. Your clone is already on the move."

"Huh? I, uh...(yawn) _He_ woke up before me?" Naruto asked groggily in disbelief.

"Yes. Get your gear. We're moving out. He is several hours ahead of us already."

"Man... (yawn) I'm good... Ow! Something bit me!" Naruto snapped his eyes open to see a small black thing flying away back to Shino's open palm. "Did you just-"

"No. _It _did. I would not put my mouth on something so unsanitary," Shino answered before he could finish.

Naruto could have sworn he heard the tiniest amount of laughter in his voice. He was too caught up in it to even make a come back.

Reluctantly, Naruto got up and prepared to leave. Before slinging his bag over his shoulder, he pulled out a package. Upon opening it, it revealed a dried ramen snack... barbeque flavor.

They jumped into the trees with Naruto thoroughly enjoying his half-assed breakfast. It wasn't long before Naruto finished his 'snack' and was soon eating another.

"Say... Shino?" The blond started, looking at his food thoughfully.

"Hm...?"

"What do _you_ eat? I've never seen you eat... that's _if _you eat."

"Of course I eat. How else would I gain sustenance?"

"Susten- what?"

"Sus-te-nance."

"Who talks like that anymore?" Naruto snorted.

Shino merely let out a resignating sigh. He was beginning to really see what his team disliked about him. To his dismay, Naruto was still talking.

"-and then there's one of my favorites, pork ramen. But you you can never forget Beef ramen, either. That's a good one. The only thing I dont like about ramen is cooking it. It takes too long!

The best thing about ramen is the broth-"

Though he couldn't help wonder how the topic changed to _ramen_, Shino was once again ignoring the blabbering blond. It's not like he woud notice anyways...

"-Hey, are you even listening?"

He noticed.

"No," Shino replied bluntly and truthfully.

"Wha-"

"I do not want to talk about ramen. I do not want to hear about ramen. I _do not_ like ramen," Shino let loose, but still in his usual dry tone. In all actuality, he never tasted ramen before, but hearing Naruto talk about it made him sick of it.

"You don't like ramen?! Have you ever even _had_ ramen?!" Naruto asked in disbelief. As he was saying it, he was already pulling another 'snack' out of his bag. "If you don't like ramen, you never had this before..." Naruto held the snack in his outstretched hand.

With a twitch of his eyebrow, a small swarm of Shino's bugs destroyed the snack just like they had done to the flying piece of earth the other day.

Shino's attention was drawn ahead while Naruto shot him dirty looks and sounded off remarks about "wasting ramen."

"He's stopping again?"

"So?"

"Why?"

"Probably a piss break..."

Shino looked at him incredulously from behind his sunglasses.

"What? He's a _copy_ of me. He pees too you know... Speaking of which, I never took one of those when I woke up..." With that said, Naruto hopped off the next branch to stop behind a few bushes. A minute later, he reappeared on a branch close to Shino's.

"Ahhhh, much better."

"Disgusting..."

"What? It's natural."

"Stop talking."

Naruto groaned and mumbled something along the lines of 'uptight'.

The rest of the day stayed silent. The next day, they would be nearing the borders of the Fire and Grass Countries. At their slow pace for ninjas, it was only natural they had gotten there already.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"You're doing great... I think. It's amazing you almost have that other skill completely mastered... well for the most part. It's not like I can let you do a _full_ test on me... I have no idea how all this is supposed to work but you seem to be mastering these techniques rather quickly," a dark haired woman said to the blond.

"Thanks, but you have no idea how much strain it is putting on me, even though I haven't done anything physically," replied the other woman as she came out of her jutsu.

"_I have a much larger idea of what you are going through than you may think..._" She thought to herself. "What did you see this time?"

"... I only caught a few scrambled glimpses this time. Disturbing ones..." A quick glance at her sensei told her it was okay to continue.

"Your team was on a mission... The boy was dying," she said slowly and sadly, "He said, _'give it to him'._" Giving her sensei a moment to adjust, she asked the painfully obvious question, "What was he talking about?"

The dark haired woman took in a sharp breath of air. Her eyes started tearing up almost immediately. "Uh..."

"Oh, that's okay! You don't have to tell me... Sorry."

"Mm. It's dark. Let's go home," she suggested. "Well you have certainly almost mastered 'Sanposeishin' but thanks for not using it just now to take your answer."

"What make's you think I didn't?"

The dark haired woman looked at the blond skeptically.

"I'm not that weak. I may not be able to see what you see when you see it... yet, but I can still sense when you enter my mind," she answered.

* * *

**A/N:** I think I may have went a little OOC with Naruto earlier. I hope it turns out okay.

Honestly, I think I may be over doing it with the explanation of the jutsus below. I think it may spoil any furture plans of surprising you with their abilities... so I will fix that right now... there, fixed.

You guys may be thinking that this Kekkai Genkai is way too strong, but trust me, it has some serious drawbacks that make up for that, afterall, I created it myself as well as the jutsus.

Whether or not they have been thought of before, I do not know. I only take credit for what they do, not for how they're named.

Anyways. Tell me what you guys think.

**Wind Style: Clone Detonation/Explosion (Fuuton: Bunshin Bakuhatsu no Jutsu) - **Clones can be detonated above or underground or as weapons, no longer needing the use of a bomb scroll. The size of the explosion depends on how many clones are used in it's detonation. Combined with Naruto's Wind Manipulation, the destruction could be limitless.

As it turns out, this skill has already been taken by Itachi but I just added wind manipulation to it. It's original name and description are as follows: **Clone Great Explosion (Bunshin Daibakuha) -** This jutsu works in combination with the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Replication Technique), and basically creates a Shadow Replication that will also explode on command, potentially killing or injuring those caught in the blast.  
**I found this jutsu at /jutsu-guide.php **(just thought I'd site my source in case any of you were wondering)

**Mind's Eye (Seishin Manako) - **A very powerful Kekkai Genkai if expertly used. With visible access to a targets eyes, one is capable of dealing great amount of damage after entering their mind. Once enabled, it requires a constant supply of chakra to stay active, thus making it more difficult if you dont get the job done right away. Using any jutsu orientated with this Kekkai Genkai increases chakra usage and mental strain until that particular jutsu is deactivated. The user must maintain eye-contact in order to do continuous damange while skill is active.

**Mindwalk Technique (Sanposeishin no Jutsu)** - Simply go into a person's mind to read their thoughts or memories. So long as you don't stay too long, a weak willed mind will not notice your presence. It takes a very strong mind to break the bond forcibly. (Add's to chakra usage and mental strain)

**Mind-Blow Technique (Seishin-Dageki no Jutsu) - **A variation of the Mindwalk Technique but on a more complex level.Uses a mind type jutsu to explore the mind of the target and attack them from within if they choose to do so (which would be a waste of chakra if you only use this to explore a mind). Effects could vary from simply looking in the memories of a person to actually removing memories, such as on how to fight, talk, or even stand (temporary!). It could even go as far as... **beep beep beep beeeeeep beep beep-- Sorry guys, had to cut that out. Don't wanna spoil anything for you... or me. **(Add's to chakra usage and mental strain)

Sorry, that was alot. Hope I didn't bore you.

Until Next Time...


	5. Politics and Relationships

**Chapter Four**

**Politics and Relationships**

"Come in," an almost irritated voice resounded through the room in reply to the low knock.

Upon entering the study, the indigo haired girl could see her father at his oak desk, similar to that of the Hokage's. He was peering intently into a scroll, every few moments, scribbling something in it all the while, smiling mischeviously. All around him were shelves riddled with books.

Not only was the entire history of the Hyuuga clan recorded here, but so was ther entire history of Konoha... every little detail. Of course, that was not the only thing in this study.

_Secrets._

They were soaked into many of these books... so many of which could only be opened by those with the authorized chakra signatures.

"You wanted to see me, Tou-san?"

Almost annoyed at her presence and without looking up, he stashed the parchment away and finally rested his eyes upon hers. The look in his eyes were... disturbing. A deep thoughtful look, but at the same time, a penetrating gaze that almost consumed her. It felt almost as if he was staring at her... with Byukugan!

_"That's impossible..."_ She reminded herself inwardly, noting the absence of the protruding veins that blatantly signified the dojutsu's activation. She just knew her father was creepy that way.

With a tone that matched his attitude, he spoke up. "Sit."

She obeyed, taking a seat in a rather uncomfortable wooden chair matching that of his wooden desk.

"Do you know what today is?" He asked in a quizical tone.

Though slightly shocked as to why he would call her to his study to ask such an insignificant question, it did not stop her from answering. "The last d-day of October... the thirty-first," she replied with a questioning look in her eyes, though keeping her confidence.

Noting her obvious reaction to his seemingly silly question, his temper slightly rose. "Need I remind you of your duties as clan heir?" He voiced the question as more like a statement, as if he knew he would have to go into further detail.

"Uh..."

Not giving his daughter any more than a second to answer, he did it for her.

"By your next birthday, I expect you to put an effort into making decent relationships with the respectable young men of this village. You have just over two years to find a suitable canidate for a husband to be granted the title of 'Clan Head'. If you do not find one by then, we will choose for you," he bluntly informed, not bothering to sympathize for her situation.

Also not giving her any time to reply, he continued, "If after three years of marriage you do not produce a child heir with a powerful enough inheritance of the clan's bloodline trait, you will be stripped of your 'Clan Head' Title and the honor will be bestowed upon the next of kin, your sister, Hanabi... Any questions?"

Hinata wanted nothing more than to stand up to her father and tell him that she already had a 'canidate' but she knew that would only cause problems. A part of her actually wondered whether or not it was this little speech that was written on that scroll he was just writing in a moment ago.

Unbeknownst to her father, she payed close attention to his dislike for the golden haired boy. Even though she did not know the exact reason for his apparent hatred for him, she knew it was best to keep off the subject for now. She did not want to risk the chance of raising his suspicions. The longer it took for him to find out about their newfound relationship, the harder it would be for him to make up some rule as to why they could not be together. If it did come to that, Hinata was prepared to 'school' him in the ways of their own clan. Even if she was the Hyuuga heir, her father would be surprised by how much she knows of the Hyuuga's political policy.

For now, feigning ignorance was the best way to win this particular political battle.

After some thought, that of which unpercieved by her father, Hinata answered with a definite "No," causing Hiashi to raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

_Gasp._ "No way! What happened next?" She asked excitedly. They both stopped waking and took a seat on a nearby park bench.

The girl mumbled something in return.

"What do you mean he _turned you down_?!"

"He just _did_, okay?!"

"But... he's been chasing after you for, like, ever! How can he turn _you_ down?"

Such a comment tore the heart out right out of her chest.

"You aren't making this any better... In fact you're making me feel worse," she replied in a sad yet angry manner before continuing, "...and I was just getting over it."

"Oh... sorry," the blonde apologized to the now severely depressed Sakura.

"But at least they look good together," she said gloomily, trying to reason with herself.

"Yeah... I know she always liked him and stuff, but I never thought they'd actually get together... I never thought _Naruto_ would actually see what was right in front of him..." the blonde thought out loud.

"But no worries!" She started again, "There's still another man for you..." Sakura looked up curiously at this statement, somewhat hoping it was the raven haired boy that just popped into her head.

"I mean, he's smart; he's an awesome fighter; diligent in everything he does; shiny black hair..."  
Sakura started to frown again.

"Though he doesn't have much fashion sense... What?" Ino noticed the glaring and the angry eye twitch she was getting from the pink haired girl.

"You just described Lee!" Sakura yelled.

"So...?"

Sakura's anger peaked, "INO-PIG!"

Just as her blond friend was about to throw out her usual comeback, she continued as her voice changed to a sudden scary-cheery nonchalant tone, "But too bad Sai is gay..."

Ino's eyes boldged at the comment, forgetting what she was just about to say. "He is not!" She defended.

"Is so... Have you noticed the way he _dresses_?" She asked mischievously.

Ino stopped cold in thought, part of her had noticed it and the same idea had passed through her head once, but she continued anyway, "It's summer time!" She defended again, hopelessly.

"It's almost winter," she replied frankly, provoking her even further.

"I-It's still hot out." she replied, voice starting to sound desperate. Ironically, just then, a chilling breeze blew past them, dancing lightly in their loose hair, giving both girls goosebumps.

Sakura couldn't help but snicker. Apparently, Nature was on her side.

"SHUT UP... BILLBOARD-BROW!" She retorted, sounding pathetic.

Sakura only laughed harder as Ino shifted in her sitting position to turn her back, away from Sakura, nose up and arms crossed... defeated.

"Hello Ladies. Nice weather we are having," came the mirthful voice of someone who just read that line from a book.

Speak of the devil, it was Sai... and his creepy smile.

Unnoticed by Sai, Ino had inspected his attire closely out of the corners of her eyes. She gave out a resignating sigh as she dropped her head and could hear Sakura snickering some more behind her.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Shino was beginning to give off a likeness similar to that of Kakashi-sensei. Lunch time was over and while Naruto ate his ramen that he had sealed away, somehow Shino had eaten without the blond seeing _what_ it was he ate. For some reason, it was really starting to get to him.

"Shino-"

"Food," he quickly answered, somehow predicting his question.

This only got him a bit riled up. Just as he was about to try again, something caught his eye. Until that moment, Naruto hadn't noticed until Shino had slipped his arm back through his sleeve.

That sneaky bastard fed himself behind his own coat! Or did he...?

Remembering what happened yesterday, his tactful side kicked in and decided not to push the subject this time. Naruto watched as the last of his bugs returned to him. It certainly wasn't many. At least not that he could see, but believe it or not, Naruto remembered seeing the same thing yesterday. Bugs.

Over a short period of time, they managed to catch up with the clone again. Now only a few miles out, anything that happened ahead of them they would know about. They were far enough away to fall back in time, if neccessary, but close enough to rush into combat if the situation called for it.

So far, Naruto had yet to recieve any updates from this particular clone, so therefore, anything of interest has most likely yet to happen.

"I sense a small chakra surge coming from your clone. Did he encounter someone?" He asked, not really expecting a decent answer.

"But I do not sense another presence..." Shino looked at Naruto with what he could only guess was a questioning gaze as he still had his sunglasses on.

"I doubt it. My clones are ordered to perform henge before going into another country so as to not draw attention to Konoha," he informed. "Didn't you already know that though?"

"But the mission is different now..."

"He doesn't know that." From this, Shino merely "_Hmm'ed_" in acknowledgment.

Less than an hour later found Naruto and Shino at the same place his clone was before entering the Grass Country. Part of Naruto contemplated performing henge himself before coming back to the new situation at hand. Being a mission from Konoha, he didn't have to hide his identity this time.

The border town would have been a nice place to stop at, but seeing how they still had plenty of sunlight, there was really no need to stop there.

As the land slowly, visibly changed from that of the Fire Country to the Grass Country, the trees became slightly fewer in number but were still quite abundant for a few more miles. The scenery was a pun for its name, or maybe the other way around. After all, this land was probably named after its scenery.

The grass was unnaturally long and towering. In most other places, there were always animals to keep the grass short, but as the two Leaf shinobi entered deeper into the small country, the grass gradually became longer and longer to where, in some areas, it became too long and could no longer handle its own weight, therefore doubling over itself.

"_This land is the perfect hiding place for a ninja. A perfect place for an ambush._"

_Rustle Rustle_

Shino was already regretting that thought as he heard the sound coming from behind the two.  
Naruto and Shino both spun around, guard up, ready for an attack.

_Flapping_...

"Haha, it was just birds..."

_"Birds? No..._" Shino knew better than that. They had just walked through that area. They had not disturbed any birds... _"Somone did that to cover up their movement... but who? I had not sensed anyone, nor had my insects..."_

Shino tried giving his teammate a serious, warning look, but having his sunglasses on, Naruto was completely oblivious as to what Shino was trying to tell him.

"What?" He asked dumbly.

Shino merely sighed hopelessly. He knew, supposedly, that Naruto was of Jounin level, but at times like these, he couldn't help but doubt that.

Without blatantly giving away his knowledge of their follower, there was no way of informing the blond idiot of this situation. He could only hope he would figure it out before it was too late.

With a secretly watchful Shino and an ever clueless Naruto, they turned back around and continued on their way at a calm pace. Shino knew they should not move out too fast, otherwise their follower might become suspicious and attack. He hoped the person was merely observing them.

Every once and a while, more rustling sounds would be heard along with an odd poofing sound, and without fail, something that wasn't originally there would convienantly appear to make an excuse for the noise. A bird... even a slightly large light brown, white-tailed rabbit hopped in and out of sight once. This scene caused Naruto to hold a strange look on his face. One of... recognition?

Finally noticing the strange path they were taking, the monotonous insect user decide to speak up, for once thinking about something other than their, so far, peaceful observers.

"Do you have any idea where we are going? If we keep walking in this direction for too much longer, we will end up in the Rain Country," he stated knowingly but still in his rather dull voice. Secretely, he was getting tired of their slow pace and their almost unchanging surroundings. Though the grass was still as tall as ever, the clusters of bamboo thickets that had recently started appearing almost made their path _for_ them, as if directing them.

"Of course I do," the blond replied with his beaming grin and a thumbs up. "I just figured it would be best to walk as close to the border as possible. If we had cut straight through the country, then we would have came too close to Kusagakure no Sato," he informed, now motioning his thumb in a pointing manner to the north of their position. "The guys following us might think we're spies or something if we got too close..."

Even behind his sunglasses _and_ the collar of his coat, Shino was visibly stunned to a stand-still. He held his surprised gaze on Naruto.

_"He knew...?"_

"Haha, so you knew you were being followed. That's quite clever of you, but don't think we were easily fooled by your tricks either..."

_"Tricks?"_ Shino thought dumbounded, searching for the source of the voice.

To answer his supposed secret but still questioning gaze, the Kusa nin revealed himself in an almost triumphant manner. Standing on a rather large boulder towering above the grass, but certainly not above the few trees and many bamboo thickets, he turned out to be another ANBU character that Naruto's clone encountered before. In his hands...

_"A rabbit? No... __the__ rabbit. It's the same white-tailed rabbit from before!" _Shino seemed even more perplexed... _"What is so special about-"_

Before he could finish his thoughts, the masked ANBU character threw the half limp furry form of the animal to their feet as Naruto was smiling sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. Upon landing at their feet, one at a time, the jutsus wore off. First it poofed, and momentarily revealed a seemingly unconcious Naruto in its place, then almost right after, _it_ poofed into nonexistance.

Shino was trying desperately to hold back his surprised stature. His normally unchanging persona was caught completely off guard.

_"Henge?! Into a... rabbit?!"_ Just as Shino was thinking that was impossible, the golden haired boy spoke up.

"Hehe, looks like you caught me..."

If the Kusa nin was surprised, his mask concealed his emotions well.

Suddenly Shino put two and two together, remembering the time only about a half hour ago when Naruto had taken a bathroom break in the grass and out of sight. That was when he... and the clone that he had sent, hours ahead of them... It must have waited... revealed the positions of the opposing ninjas to Naruto...

"Maybe so, but it seems not soon enough. In order to know where we were, you must have released a clone before making that one," he stated, motioning towards the place where the clone had once been, unaware of the clone that had been there long before the two had arrived.

With some further thought, from behind his mask, he spoke again, "With that precise chakra control, I now understand how your clone was able to fake his injury last time we met... Though at that time you concealed your hitai-ate," he revealed, curiosity in his voice but still oblivious to the truth. From behind his mask, he stared directly at his forehead protector.

Pointing accusingly, he shouted, "Wha- That was you?! You pompous-"

With a hand clapped firmly over his teammate's mouth, he finally regained his composure. "I too, knew you have been following us for quite some time..." He noted out loud, part of him feeling the need to make himself seem not completely as stupid as Naruto looked. "But seems how you had yet to attack us, can I assume that you are prepared to let us continue on our way peacefully?"

The masked man appeared to think this part over. A few moments later, he made his decision.

"So long as you stay on the path we have made for you, we will let you continue... But make no mistake, you will be under close supervision. One wrong move and you both will be taken care of."

Shino nodded in compliance, finally removing his hand from a now calm Naruto. Though only one Kusa made an appearance, the _"we" _had not gone unnoticed.

"Make haste." With those last words, the mysterious character leaped into the tall grass, once again hiding his position.

As they continued on their way, though at a much quicker pace, Naruto was secretly pleased that his clone had made another to continue on its way before staying behind to 'make' a rabbit before dispersing himself.

Shino gathered up his senses. He could tell Naruto still had a clone several miles ahead of them. He gazed at Naruto in wonder. Apparently, the rumors were true. He was certainly most unpredictable. To have thought so far ahead... to even go as far ahead to give his clones precautionary instructions seemed... beyond him. He was certainly no longer the 'dead-last' ninja others made him out to be... even if he still had his moments more often than not.

A few hours later found the duo nearing the border between the Grass and Earth country. Overall, it had taken them nearly the entire day to travel through it, mostly because of the slow pace during the first half.

The grass, slowly but surely, became shorter and shorter until it was dead and dry with only patches of it here and there. The ground was becoming dry and cracked and was quite rocky in some areas.

Their followers had long stopped their persuit along with the bamboo thickets and trees altogether, save for a few dead and bare ones. The ground became dry and cracked and the air was stale.

The tired traveling duo stopped to rest under the last tree they could find that actually presented a decent amount of shade. Though its leaves were mostly brown and dead, they still had a hint of green in them, but never-the-less, looked more than ready to depart from their outstretched branches at any moment.

Unfortunately for them, the tree they had been sitting under did not provide them shade for very long. The unnaturally hot sun was soon dipping into the horizon, much too low for the half dead tree to do anything about it.

Though it was nearing winter, and though it should be cooling down, the two blamed the heat on the climate change... well, Shino did. Naruto simply blamed the sun as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

Night was soon drifting in and it was still oddly humid.

They watched as the sky slowly changed from blue to gold and in a last attempt at sunlight, it finally changed from a beautiful streak of gold, to a calm dark blue. At last, its many diamonds shone in the black velvet twilight. All the while, the once calm weather also made its change. A soft, now cool breeze started to blow. The gentle breeze slowly became quite rough as it started pulling up dirt and dust, causing it to get in their eyes and mouths. A quick look in the short distance gave them very bad news.

An ominous cloud of dust much resembling that of Naruto's personal explosion was headed straight for their position. The tree above them was losing its last precious leaves.

Neither of them had packed a tent. Then again, neither of them had expected the harsh sandy winds of Suna to be here as well. Even if Shino had already been here once before, these particular weather conditions had remained absent.

"We must find shelter before this gets worse," Shino said loudly over the noise of the growing wind. It was nowhere near a sandstorm yet, but it was getting there.

Hoping to find a cave or a hole in the side of the earth big enough to fit them both, they headed towards a tall rocky mountain they had seen through the daylight.

Fighting desperately against the harsh winds, they were now nearly fifty yards from the mountain's base, Shino's well trained senses could barely register the very slight vibrations beneath him. The ever so quiet cracking, reminding him that of a crumbling ice floor.

_"The ground!"_

"Nar - to! Watch --! The ground -- crum--! " He tried to yell his warning, but the wind was too much. It drowned out most of everything he said.

Naruto turned around at the voice that seemed barely a whisper to him. "WHAT?" He yelled triumphantly over the wind.

"The ground--!" Shino tried again in response. He tried to pull him away from the location, but the wind proved stronger.

_"The... ground?"_ Naruto realized. Looking down, to his horror, he saw what his teammate had been trying to tell him. What he had initially thought were the simple cracks in the dry dirt floor were actually, well... cracks. Ones that were becoming deeper and wider and more unstable by the second.

Just as Naruto tried to jumped from the danger, with Shino still holding on, he only made it worse. The force he exerted on the ground in his attempt to escape only sped up the disaster. He lost his footing as the ground beneath them crumbled opening a dark chasm below them.

Their hands... Their only lifelines, slipped apart...

* * *

**A/N:** Uh oh! Probably hate me for that cliff hanger... But hey, this chapter was of a decent length, longer than the last one, so there.

Anyways, honestly, I'm not sure if one can henge themself to look like a rabbit... or any other animal for that matter, but I figured, since Naruto henged himself into a Wind Shuriken when Team 7 was up against Zabuza, I thought, _Hell, why not a cute lil' bunny wabbit?_

Also, it has been brought to my attention that in the last chapter, I had made Naruto's clone seem more like a biological being, rather than that of a chakra being. I did this based on Episode 3 of the anime when all his clones had diarrea after drinking sour milk, lol. His clones seemed pretty biological then. Idk, what do you guys think?

Anyways, _once again_, let me know what you think and all that good stuff. Ideas? Thoughts? Share.

Until Next Time...


	6. Tears of the Past, Hints of the Future

**Chapter Five**

**Tears of the Past, Hints of the Future**

"You two actually got together? No way! To think he actually got his head out of his ass is beyond me..."

"Wha- No! We didn't _get together_. He- He just accompanied me to the festival, that's all," she defended, thoroughly embarrassed.

"_Accompanied_?! He flat out asked you to go with him! He practically begged! That was a date!" She exclaimed.

"No, it-it wasn't. It was just two good friends having a good time," she defended further in an innocent tone though dreading what may come next.

"Oh, I certainly don't doubt you were having a _'good time'_ but one thing is for sure, friends don't kiss like _that_!" She replied boldly.

_Gasp._ "Y-You saw that?! I-I saw it flash through my head, but I didn't think- I hoped you didn't..."

The blond's sneer was boundless at the accidental admission. In a cocky tone, she continued her questioning assault. "So, what's he look like? Is he cute?"

The dark haired woman looked dumbfounded. "I thought you saw it?"

"Oh, not only did I see it, I _felt_ it... but just as the kiss ended, the vision... er, memory, cut out. I missed whatever happened after that..." the blonde revealed disappointedly.

"No way..."

"Yup..."

"No... I mean... I didn't... want you to see it..."

"Sorry, couldn't help it," she replied cheekily, with a smirk.

"No, you don't understand... I didn't want you to see it... I- I think _I_ stopped it somehow. I tried pushing you out, only it didn't work fast enough."

"You mean... Are you... getting stronger too?"

"I guess... I am..."

"So, if I'm like... making your mind stronger... I'm training _you_," she finished with a haughty laugh.

"Watch it... If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even know about these techniques, let alone be training with them," the dark haired woman retorted.

"Ooh, low blow..." The blonde replied faking a hurt expression.

"Let me try Sanposeishin again...?" She changed the subject with eyes pleading like an excited child.

"We can do that inside, later. You have other training you should work on before that storm hits..." She motioned towards the stormy horizon.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"I think it is time end this training session, Hinata-sama," suggested an ever so slightly exhausted but still overconfident branch member.

"N-No. I'm not d-done yet, N-Neji nii-san," came the slightly panting reply.

Surprised at her reluctance to give up, he replied, "You are out of breath, Hinata-sama... but your eyes do show much determination. Very well. I will not deny your request, you are becoming stronger. But be forewarned, you still do not stand a chance against me... Now come."

The seemingly breathless girl charged in low. With a sudden halt at his feet, she released a smile, staring him straight in the eyes, no longer panting. She slapped his incomming left-handed Jyuuken strike away with her own left hand followed by an upward palm thrust aimed for his chest cavity.

Prepared for this, Neji brought his right hand around to block her thrust. He intended to slap it away and leave room for his counter but her thrust feigned. Instead of striking, she went for the hand in which he intended to block with.

Grabbing his wrist, she pulled it above her head as she slipped under it, whirled around him and twisted his arm forcing it behind his own back, followed by a Jyuuken strike to his lower left back.

"Kaiten!"

In his attempt to get into the proper stance to whirl himself around, Hinata kicked a foot out from under him. Never-the-less, the chakra was expelled from his body, forcing Hinata to jump back in defence.

"Impressive. You have certainly been training diligently. But I am getting bored of this mere _excercise_. I will end this now... You are in range of my divination."

Hinata's eyes became wide with disbelief for a second before becoming even more serious than before.

_"This is it!" _

With all her concentration, she began her defence. Blue lines of chakra followed her hands in their flexible pattern forming her barrier.

I do not know what this skill is that you possess, but it will not protect you..."

"Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!"

"Shugo Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!"

"Two palms!"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

_Grab_

"Naruto!"

It was too late. The blond fell into the darkness while Shino hung there, barely holding onto the the still crumbling edge.

Shifting his weight, he quickly began swinging his body as carefully as possible. He managed got his feet close enough to the opposing wall before...

_Slip_

His grasp finally gave way under the crumbling edge, throwing Shino off his swing prematurely. In a desperate attempt to stop the fall before he gained too much momentum, he forced as much of his chakra as he could to his feet. Much less than gracefully, his foot caught the wall, skidding and slicing through his ninja grade sandals before slipping once again. Luckily, he managed to slow himself down enough grab the jagged wall with the help of his chakra. This resulted in a deep cutt to his hand. Shino grunted in pain, but now he could make his way to the bottom safely.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

"AHHHHH- Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Creating a ladder of six Narutos, he barely managed to catch the wall. Dragging against the jagged surface, he recieved a series of nasty cuts and a final jagged slash across his face.

_POOF!_

Now five Narutos were falling, six feet away from the wall with no hope of catching on before the bottom caught up with him. Through the darkness, he could see the ground racing up at him.

Coming closer... Closer.

Becoming very desperate, his hands once again slipped into the familiar handsigns, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A mass of orange and black mixed with the darkness. In a cloud of ground impacting poofs, the real Naruto is cushioned by the fall of all his clones leaving a massive amount of dispersal smoke.

Fifteen minutes later, Shino finally managed to reach the bottom. Looking up, he can see the opening from which they fell from. An easy two-hundred feet.

Now being so far from the storm, his voice rang out with an erie echoe as the winds above him gave off a low dull roar.

"Naruto?" He questioned the unmoving figure. He heard his multiple screams going down, and the still disappating smoke had finally settled to reveal an unconcious Naruto sprawled out on his back. It appeared that he had fallen on some debris from above... _sharp_ debris, he noted. A slender broken jagged rock stuck out of the upper thigh of his left leg. The bloody flesh proved to look extremely agonizing.

_"He must be..." _He walked closer to his broken teammate.

_Cough Cough._

His leg twitched, sending signals to his brain to be interpreted as an emense amount of pain washed over his body. The resulting outcome was his voice reverberating off walls of the cavern that they were now situated in. The mere intensity of his voice made Shino quiver with pity. Though his ears rang from the unrelenting scream, he did his best not to show it.

"Naruto, we have to do something about this immediately!" Shino said after hurrying to his side and kneeling down beside his bruised form. His eyes were cloudy with tears and pain. If he took any notice of his kneeling teammate, he did not show it. His eyes stared blankly into the sky through the opening two-hundred feet above him.

Not knowing if his voice was heard, he spoke anyways. "My insects will numb you. I'm going to take it out." With that said, he released many of his small inhabitants that made their way to Naruto's wound. The faction did their job as they injected the unresponsive boy with their harmless, but numbing poison. Shino could only hope it was enough as he waited a moment for the numbing poison to take its affect. He then gripped the jagged stone. Unexpectedly, it slipped from his grip. Looking at his hand, he saw why.

_Blood._

Whether or not it was his own or his teammate's, he did not know, but his hand was now covered in it. He made a quick look around and quickly spotted his bag that he'd lost upon falling through the hole above him. Quickly retrieving it and returning to Naruto's side, he removed a white rag from its contents. Wrapping it around his bloody hand for a better grip, he silently prayed the numbing sensation was still in full effect. He pulled, _hard_.  
A sickening squishing sound was heard as the object left his body. Naruto let out a horrible hoarse rasping gasping sound as he tried to scream. He soon slipped into unconciousness.

"Naruto! Stay awake, Naruto! NARUTO!" Shino tried everything from yelling and slapping to poking his wound to keep him awake. Nothing worked. He could only hope this 'sleep' wouldn't lead to a coma, or worse...

Shino decided to make himself useful. Pulling a medical kit from his bag, he removed from it, tweasers and a sterilizing solution. He first made sure to clean his own wound on his hand and re-wrap it, before attending to his unconscious teammate.

After ripping off the tattered orange pant leg, he contented himself with removing the stone splinters from his exposed flesh. Normally, he would have stopped the bood flow first, but surprisingly and curiously enough, it wasn't bleeding. It was a rather clean cut with only a few broken pieces left inside. Luckily, the jagged piece of stone had missed his femur. After propping his leg up ontop of rather, surely, uncomfortable rock, he set to work. He was done with the simple cleaning procedure in only a few minutes and was soon pulling out a few more items from his bag. A needle and thin wire. Not being a medical specialist, he did the best he could. Twenty minutes and a slow, careful stitch-job later, Shino was finally done.

As he was stitching his leg, he could have sworn the wound was alittle smaller, but blamed the delusion on his exhaustion and lack of sleep.

After applying an appropriate amount of medicine followed by tightly bound bandages, he recieved an unconcious grunt from his first-time patient.

_"That's a good sign,"_ he noted.

Unfortunately, there was no firewood, or anything to burn. Nothing to make a fire and it was getting cold. Or perhaps it was already cold, but the immediate situation took over his senses.

He took another look at his comrad, who was making odd faces in his sleep. Pressumably, the numbness had worn off and he was feeling the full extent of the pain. To make matters worse, it would still be a few more hours before he could give another dose of the numbing poison and any anesthetic that he had must have been lost in the commotion. For some reason beyond his understanding, the numbing effect didn't last long in his system at all. It should have lasted an hour, at least. Not half of that.

He finally noticed what had probably saved the young man's life. He still had his stuffed back pack strapped to his back. Other than his clones breaking his fall, this bag probably saved him from a broken back.

He carefully removed the bag in hopes of finding something useful in it, and not broken or damaged. Upon looking in it, he found almost nothing but scrolls and a few extra pouches that turned out to contain extra weapons and food pills. But no blood pills? This was a disappointment.

_"Why would he have food pills but not blood pills?"_

He finally turned his attention to the scrolls. He wondered what they could possibly hold within.

He removed one from the bag. It was still in fairly good condition, albeit a bit flattened. He read it's label... _Cup Ramen. _He could barely hold back his resentment as he set it aside though he couldn't help be thankful that the blond carried _any_ containment scrolls. He pulled out another... _Cup Ramen_. Although it was only the second scroll, it was at that point he almost gave up immediately but deciding not to throw the bag across the clearing that they had landed in, he gave it one more chance. He read another. _Tent_.

"Hmm, getting better," he thought aloud before remembering how they had needed a tent earlier and was suddenly pissed before immediately regaining control of his emotions right after. Looking up at the storm above them, small amounts of dust could be seen and felt falling from the hole. It certainly wasn't enough to need a tent for though.

He read another, _Pillows / Blankets_.

"Finally, something useful," he said before spreading the scroll out to activate it. Within seconds, a white mass of blankets and pillows and appeared before him.

Taking a few minutes, he created two makeshift beds and carefully placed Naruto in one and softly placed his head on a pillow before covering him up. He then went back to the scrolls.

He pulled out another scroll. _Water_.

Thank Kami, he was smart enough to pack something to drink. In the way of liquid, he half expected to find nothing but ramen broth, if anything at all. He was almost happy to unseal this _gift_. He had water somewhere as well, but he was pretty sure it was still atop the opening above them... somewhere. The wind had surely carried far away by now.

He was soon helping himself to mouthfuls of the precious clear liquid and also placed a bottle of it next to Naruto for when he woke up.

At last, there were only four scrolls left. Pulling out the next one read _Fire Wood_.

Ten minutes later, a thoroughly ticked off Shino was laying in his makeshift bed with a freshly lit camp fire and four _Cup Ramen_ scrolls litterally thown about the place. It took all of his will not to use all five as fire starters... but that didn't stop him from burning the last one. He knew a certain someone was going to need _something_ to eat other than the pillow his head was resting on.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"I don't know for how much longer I can take this. This sand along with this dry weather is doing a number on my skin... And this cloak isn't doing a damn thing to stop it! It's just about as bad as Suna."

"Where is he?" The other voice said, not paying any attention to the previous statement.

"To Hell if I know! I can't sense him either!" The first voice snapped. Taking a breath, he continued, "It's like, he suddenly disappeared or something. I won't be able to sense him until this storm blows over," it said, more calmly this time.

"You're useless."

"Look who's talkin'."

Black, red clouded cloaks billowed uncontrollably in the wind as the two fought fiercely against the storm.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

The blurry vision came into view, revealing voices along with their perspective owners... The vision soon changed from blurry to black and white... but why?

_"-What are you doing here?" The blonde heard within her vision. The eyes she was now peering out of turned to see a that of a bedridden woman... exhausted, excited and for some reason, terrified at the same time. But she covered up that look on her face the moment __he__ stepped in._

_Her view then looked to the doorway to show that of a tall light haired male. He was standing tall, draped in his elegant cloak, risen several inches off the ground. Even though she didn't know who this man was, the look on his face troubled her... Looking worried, happy, and ashamed all at once, he stared at the beautiful woman in the bed beside her._

_Words came from his lips, but what they were, she couldn't hear._

_Her view changed as the eyes she was now peering out of turned to look at the bedridden woman. For some reason, she suddenly looked excited. The words were soon escaping her lips..._

_"Oh! Dear, I have something to tell-"_

_The man interrupted her, but once again, the words could not be heard._

Out of her control, the vision she was so intent on watching started becoming scrambled. It skipped around as if choosing what she would see...

_"You may never be able to forgive me..." He started walking to the door, his back to the two women in the room, "...but it's the only way." He stopped at the doorway and without turning his body, he turned his head to look at the woman, pure sadness in his eyes._

_Something was said that she didn't hear, but soon, sobbing noises were heard as the woman beside her started crying uncontrollably._

The scene seemed to have skipped again because the man was now at her side. He whispered something and kissed her deeply. The eyes of the woman she was looking out of had never left this man's face.

_The man then looked upon herself, or at least the women she was peering out of. Only one word of his was heard next as the rest were silenced..._

_"Goodbye..."_

_She could feel words coming from her own mouth, but as for what they were, she didn't know. She could also feel the wetness spilling down her host's own cheeks._

_The man she was staring at walked back to the doorway, eyes still fixated on his face. She could have sworn there were tears streaming down his as well. Next thing she knew, he was gone. An extra pair of footsteps echoed out as someone followed him close by._

Coming out of her vision, she tried to speak only to have her throat close up on her. Her voice cracked and the familiar wetness was streaming down her own face.

"W-What... w-was that?" She finally managed to say, throat dry and voice hoarse. _"It was so... vivid..."_ She thought.

The woman in front of her, though with a strange look of fading concentration, was also fresh with tears. She opened her mouth to talk, but nothing came out. In another attempt to speak, in shuddered gasps, she finally managed to say, "T-That was... a..." She swallowed back her tears, "...a sad part of... my past..."

She didn't know why, but she had the sudden uncontrollable urge to hug the woman that was her mother figure, so she did. Unsaid words were shared between them through the joy of their comforting embrace. Though she had a strange nagging realization at the back of her head, she pushed it back as her womanly instincts told her not to press the issue.

* * *

**A/N: **Well I hope that kept you entertained. I have most, if not all, of the story planned out already but it gets tricky trying to keep it going without getting boring; but every once in a while I get an interesting idea to add to the story, in turn, I try to build up the events that would lead to it. So if any of you guys have any ideas of what you would like to see in this story, I will see what I can do to incorporate it into my plot. Of course, credit will be given where deserved.

Anyways, let me know what you think.

Until Next Time...


	7. Trap

**A/N:** Sorry guys. No new chapter has been added yet. I have just been doing some editing and revising which ended up with me moving every chapter up in number. The only real change to have occurred is the cutting of the last chapter of the prequel to make a short Prologue for this story. Nothing has changed in the text so there is no need to look back unless you are really interested. Thanks.

**Chapter Six**

**Trap**

Shino awoke to an almost sweet smelling aroma. Reluctantly opening his eyes to find the source, he rolled onto his back and propped himself up on his elbows. He noticed it took slightly more effort than it should have but blamed it on last night's events. He figured his strength would return soon enough.

After blinking the sleepy haze from his eyes, he could see his blond teammate making breakfast over the burning coals...

_"Wait... Coals? Where did he... and that pan... and spatula? Those weren't sealed in any of those scrolls," _he thought, but after looking around more, he noticed several more oddities.

Of the scrolls which he had already sorted through, including the _Ramen_ scrolls which had now been neatly lined up, minus the one lost in the fire, the high collared ninja noticed several extra scrolls laying about.

_"Where...?"_ He began again, but then remembered more of what had happened last night. In finally losing his temper with finding the last containment scroll being labeled 'Ramen', Shino had forgotten to check the other pockets of Naruto's backpack which must have contained more scrolls.

Shino then let out a loud sigh, disappointed with his own lack of placidity with the irritating situation he had come across.

Upon hearing the overly audible sigh, Naruto looked partly over his own shoulder to see his 'bug-eyed' teammate, noting his sunglasses.

Instead of a 'Good morning' or at least an 'Oh, you're awake', Naruto instead let his mouth run off with something else...

"I can't believe you actually slept with your sunglasses on..."

Shino uncharacteristically snorted but otherwise ignored his brash comment and came back with his own, "I can't believe you're stupid enough to be in that position with your injury. Are your trying to rip the stiches?" He asked but due to Naruto current position, he couldn't actually see his left thigh which was so brutally penetrated the night before.

Since the blond idiot was on the flats of his feet, knees completely bent up to his chest, all he could see was most of his back and right side along with the leg that still bore its pant legging.

"Huh?" Came his usual reply.

Shino merely gave him a stupid glare, which was hidden behind his high collar and sunglasses.

In his sluggish state of mind, Naruto started looking over his body for this so-called 'wound' before finally seeing the medical gauze wrapped around his leg.

"What the- MY PANTS!! What did you-"

While in his search for his wound, Shino, with some effort, brought himself to his feet to pick something up off the ground a few feet away from his 'bed'.

Just as Naruto started his accusation, something landed at his feet with a strange clinking sound that echoed off the walls. A rather long, jagged, broken piece of stone stained with... blood!

"Don't blame me. Since that was sticking out of your leg last night, I think it is safe to assume that it's the thing that ruined your pants before I did," Shino monotonously defended with the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice. One side of his cheek seemed to twitch, in what one could assume, was a smirk hidden behind his high collar.

Naruto stared at the deadly object for a moment before making himself content with grunting noises to express his pointless but dying anger.

Before he knew it, the usually quiet shinobi took up the spatula and scraped up the two cooking eggs out of the pan and dropped them on a paper plate next to Naruto. Fleeting irritation had struck him, seeing these paper plates. Only because they must had been one of many other objects hidden within the scrolls he had failed to find.

"You can have those ones since you burnt them," he reasoned. Ignoring the blond's unsatisfied grunts, he then took two more eggs from their container and broke the shells over the edge of the pan before freeing the round yellow blobs from their shells. Sizzling sounds proved the heat was doing its job as the eggs cooked. Minutes later, Shino's irritation started making its way back seeing his own burnt eggs, though not nearly as bad as the previous ones. Had the blond bothered to pack some cooking oil, it would have been much easier.

Moments later, Shino took two pieces of toast from a premade stack, obviously from when he was sleeping, and placed both eggs on the bread, making himself a nice double stacked egg sandwhich. Surprisingly enough, the bread was nicely browned and not burnt like he expected.

"Hm," he let out after taking a bite, for once on the trip, revealing his mouth.

"Hm?" Naruto questioned, already done with his food, if you could call it that. He was soon preparing cup ramen with water he had heated up over the burning coals next to Shino's cooking eggs...

"It's not bad, even if I made it myself..."

Naruto only continued his questioning glare.

"I don't normally eat like this..." He finally answered the golden haired boy's look. Naruto still looked slightly dissatisfied, and this usually would have been enough for Shino, but he decided to continue anyways.

"While I am on missions, I normally let my insects scavenge for nutrients to share with my me. My body does not require solid food every time I feell hungry, but once in a while, it is neccessary to replenish a sizable amount of energy," he revealed his shocking secret after swallowing a mouthful.

Ignoring Naruto's jaw-dropping disbelief, he continued, "By the looks of it out there, there does not seem to be much _to_ scavenge so it looks like _I'll_ be the one sharing this time."

The blond's expression had yet to change from this new information.

"That's... wierd... and gross," he finally said after gathering his composure.

While his ramen slowly cooked in the boiling water, Naruto found himself gazing at his bandaged leg. Now that he knew it was there, it felt... wierd. It itched. He didn't know how to explain it, but usually when he gets wounded, his cuts heal too fast to go through the itchy healing phase.

Before he realized what he was doing, he was absent-mindedly unwrapping his bandage, gaining Shino's attention.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? It's too early to change your dressings!" He yelled unexpectedly, showing more emotion than he intended. But his words fell on deaf ears.

Moments later, the last of his bandage was unwrapped with a surprisingly small amount of dried blood caked on the dressing.

Shino, cut off before he could regain his composure, stared flabbergasted by the sight he took in. Though he still had the wire stitched into his skin, the wound he had was now a slowly forming scar. He could actually see the scabs crumble off as his old skin was replaced with scar tissue.

After only a minute of watching the end of the healing process, it was over, leaving Naruto with a light, but still visible scar on his leg, though it still had the wire tiny wire sticking out in odd places.

"What the hell?!" He practically hollared at his own leg, as if demanding answers from it.

"Uh..." Was all Shino could manage.

"That's not supposed to happen!" He exclaimed, pointing stupidly at his legs. "I DO NOT SCAR!"

"Huh... You don't get... scars?" Shino repeated, still baffled by the sight he took in. Though upon hearing Naruto's revelation, he made a slow scan over his body... He was right.

From his years of experience as a shinobi, you would think he would have a few scars on his body, but he didn't. Not one. But now he did. Surprisingly, he had nearly perfect skin.

"What are you... talking about?" He asked, still trying to get over his bafflement. For some reason, this one question snapped Naruto out of his current mood, causing him to becoming suddenly sheepish.

"Uhh... it- it's nothing. Nevermind," he replied, turning his head away to avoid the gaze of his black holes that were his sunglasses.

For a couple seconds, the face of the blond shinobi had been taken over with look of depression as his blue eyes glazed over.

Seeing how this simple question had hit him so hard, Shino tactfully decided not to push the subject.

Everyone has their secrets.

"Oh, and don't worry about the stitching wire. It is biodegradable; designed to break down in the body after a week or so."

"Oh, uh... I... already pulled it out," he said with a stupid expression, relinquishing the wire from his hand.

Shino had to force himself to take control of his emotions onces again. Never before had anyone ever been able to tear such anger from him. He definately knew why his old team hated him so much now.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"What is the cause of his condition?"

"I'm afraid to inform you, but it was in fact, your eldest daughter, Hiashi-sama," revealed a male branch member, head bowed.

"Impossible! I refuse to believe this. What proof do you have?" Replied an exasperated Hiashi.

"I saw it with my own eyes, Tou-san," interrupted a younger, paled eyed Hyuuga.

"Hinabi?" He turned to his youngest daughter with a mix of uncertainty and curiosity on his face.

"It only started out as a sparring session. Hinata nee-san was doing quite well for herself, but Neji nii-san had the upper hand... Nee-san refused to give up. She... she managed to get behind him... She stopped him from fully executing _Kaiten._ They distanced themselves. Negi nii-san, though he wouldn't show it, I could tell..." She paused her brief summary of the spar.

"Tell what?" Hiashi demanded, now clearly more curious than he was angry. Hinabi continued, but not without a very slight hint of a scowl for being interrupted.

"He... was getting impatient. He followed up with _Hakke Rokujuuyonshou_... Nee-san... it was amazing... beautiful..." she mumbled with a dreamy look of recollection.

"Well!? Spit it out," the pale eyed clan head demanded impatiently.

"She countered it... successfully," she finished at last, admiration in her eyes. One thing she didn't need to say; she clearly saw her older sister in a new light from now on.

"Im- Impossible..." Hiashi was dumbstruck. He couldn't imagine any way she could have countered such a devestating attack. Though he felt sorry for the younger branch member laying in the bed before him, new feelings began to surface.

_"Finally... has she become someone worthy of taking over this clan?"_ He couldn't help but feel some sort of satisfaction with the turn of events.

Neji lay in bed, listening to those rambling on about his humiliating defeat. He was awake. They knew he was awake. His eyes were open after all. But he refused to talk about the incident... all he did was lay there, with his arms temporarily useless at his sides. He continued replaying the incident in his head.

_"Two palms!"_

_In his Jyuuken style stance, his fingers made contact with the chakra barrier. An arrogant smirk took hold of his lips as his fingers easily penetrated the barrier. Moments later, his proud demeanor was overcome with surprise and horror as some force he had never felt before took hold of him. _

_The chakra released from his fingertips was pushed back with so much force, his arms began to quiver. The powerful wave of chakra coursed through his arms, effectively closing all tenketsus along the way, all the way up to his shoulder blades. Furthermore, the wave of chakra not only closed all of his tenketsus, but also rendered his muscles immobile and useless._

_His arms... were useless._

_Thrown away by the sheer force of the defensive skill, and without the use of his arms to break or stop his fall, the black haired Hyuuga was hurtled several feet away where he hit the ground and rolled twice before being sprawled out on his chest. With great effort, he lifted his head to look into the eyes of his... new rival._

_Where he expected to see a look of triumph, he did not. Instead, he saw one of worry... sorrow... surprise._

_To his dismay, he found himself breathing harder than she was._

_"Nii-san!" Were the last words he heard along with the muffled sounds of scampering footsteps._

_Finally... darkness took him._

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Did you hear?!" Did you?" Prodded the girl relentlessly to the other.

"Hmm?" The other sounded off, uninterested.

"Neji-kun was beaten in a sparring match!" Revealed the village's number one gossip girl, Ino.

At this, the second kunoichi became mildly interested. "Really? Who was it?"

"You wouldn't believe it. It was-" Before she could finish, she was interrupted by a skidding green figure and a cloud of dust in his wake.

"WHAT?! No way could my greatest rival be defeated by anyone other than myself! Tell me who this person is, for I, the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha shall demand a duel!"

_Sigh._ "If only I had your fighting spirit, Lee-kun," said the pink haired girl, hinting to something else only the blonde next to her would know the meaning of.

"Wha- But Sakura-chan... If you do not believe in youself, then perhaps we can regain your 'spirit' through five hundred laps around Konoha!" He exclaimed, performing his 'good-guy pose' and completely oblivious to the change of subject.

"Let's go!" He piped up again, suddenly grabbing hold of her wrist and dragging her to the nearest gate.

A moment past before Sakura managed to get the best of her hesitation, resulting in a Lee shaped hole in a near-by fence.

Seemingly distressed, she walked back towards her friend, who just so happened to have another one of her malicious grins planted on her face.

Just as she began to open her mouth, Sakura cut her off.

"Don't even say it, or you'll be joining him!"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"I think it's time to get moving," Shino stated at last. "The storm stopped hours ago..."

A thought suddenly hit him before he spoke up again, "Whatever happened to your clone?"

This realization hit him the moment it was said.

"Good question... Since I haven't got its memories, it must still be out there somewhere..." he said with a curious glance at his blue laced finger.

Though he didn't say it out loud, he knew the clone had been a few hours ahead of them when the storm hit. It must have found shelter. There's no way it would have been able to survive in that storm as just a clone.

"It's still fairly early. I'd say about ten in the morning. Lets take an advantage of the low morning temperature," Shino wisely suggested.

With silent comprehension, Naruto produced several clones who quickly and thoroughly cleaned up their forced campsite. Within minutes, they were ready to go.

Shino picked up his bag and stood up. With what sounded like an exhausted exhalation of breath, Shino scowled at himself. _"That took far to much energy just to stand up with my bag."_

"What's with you?" Naruto asked, sounding unintentionally irritated.

"Something's wrong," he simply stated as he, with some effort, walked to the wall of their giant hole.

"What now?" The blond asked in a impatient tone.

"Don't you feel it?" He asked in tone that said 'you're stupid if you dont.'

"No... What?"

Shino let out a disappointed sigh. He then, apprehensively, raised his hand to about shoulder height. Not sure if it would even do anything, he put his hand on the cold surface of the stone wall.

Nothing.

"What are you-" He stopped in mid sentence as he saw the outcome of Shino's next move.

After applying a visible amount of chakra to his hand, it was suddenly pushed away from the wall as if the wall and his hand were two posivitvely charged magnets.

"What the..." was all Naruto could say as he himself felt the urge to do the same thing. He got the same effect.

"This 'fall-in' was no accident..." He suddenly deducted. "It was a trap."

"How do you know that?" He asked immediately after.

"Give me a minute."

Naruto did as he was told...

...

...

More than two minutes later, Naruto finally lost his patience.

"Well?!"

"It's definately a trap."

"We already know that!"

"Here is my theory," he began, once again in his usual monotonous tone. "This _trap_ was designed so that if it didn't kill us, it would keep us in here until we were recovered..."

"Or until we die of old age," the blond remarked, not missing a beat.

"Now it makes since why I'm so exhausted... As soon as we made contact with the floor, it very slowly began draining our chakra at a rate we wouldn't immediately notice. By the time we did notice, and by _we_ I do mean _me_, it would be too late to escape. But that doesn't explain why you aren't tired..."

Naruto turned his gaze away. _He_ knew why. He regained his chakra faster than it was sucked away. On top of that, he had more than enough chakra to last him a lifetime in here anyways.

In a successful attempt to get him off the topic, he spoke up.

"But that doesn't explain what's with this," he said, needlessly demonstrating the repelling magnet effect with his chakra once again.

"I'm getting there. It appears that the floor drains our chakra and feeds it into the stone wall which then somehow changes the polarity to cause a magnetic effect with the same charge as our chakra, therefore pushing us away when we apply chakra. This, in turn, prevents us from escaping by simply walking up the wall."

...

"Huh?" He said with a stupid look on his face. "Keep it simple."

With an irritated sigh, he 'dumbed-it-down' for the blond shinobi.

"Basically, it's designed to use our own chakra against us to prevent us from grabbing onto the wall with our chakra."

"...Makes sense." Though he didn't quite realize it yet, it also explained why he healed so slowly, leaving a scar on his leg.

For some stupid reason, Naruto turned back to the wall to try again. With both hands covered in flaming blue, he pushed harder and harder.

As slowly as ever, his hands got closer and closer to the wall all the while pumping more and more chakra into his hands until... contact.

For a split second, both hands touch the cold stone before something interrupted his concentration. He was violently thrown from the wall, landing and sliding several yards away.

With a sharp intake of breath, he expressed his pain with severals 'ows' and got back to his feet. Brushing himself off, he returned to the spot he was once standing.

"It's useless," the bug user sounded out dryly.

"Shut up, stupid. I got distra- ... distracted." He suddenly recalled what it was that distracted him.

Clone memories.

* * *

**A/N: **Whooo, don't you love it? I know I did. I was stuck for a while as I tried to figure out how I wanted to progress it, and then I figured it out. Results are in the next chapter.

Next Chapter: Naruto encounters a mystery woman... with blonde hair? But a couple pests crash the party. Stay tuned to find out what happens.

Until Next Time...


	8. Akatsuki's Mistake

**Chapter Seven**

**Akatsuki's Mistake**

"That's far enough. You will go no further," a voice sounded in a tone that made it hard to discern their gender. The person stuck their closed fist into the air as a tactical maneuver to motion the ANBU team behind him to hold their position.

Seeing this, Naruto presumed this was the captain he was facing and decided to study the figure in every way possible. His study was interrupted shortly after by sounds of incoherent muttering of something coming from behind the mask of the pressumed Captain. A second later, this person went through a few handsigns, after which, nothing seemed to happen.

After seeing this seemingly useless display of handsigns, the once golden haired boy went back to his usual demeanor.

"Hah! I've already dealt with enough people trying to stop me. You won't do any better!" The black haired boy retorted at the masked figure who appeared to block his path while ignoring the slight but strange tingle the just flowed through his body.

The masked person took note of his brash speech pattern and 'ready-to-fight' stance and prepared himself as well.

"State your business and village affiliation," the figure kept speaking, attempting to keep the situation under control while also noting the blank hitai-ate on the black haired boy's forehead. For some reason, the speaking ANBU spoke in a Shikamaru-like tone, as if he didn't really care for the information.

"Oh yeah..." The boy said while putting his hands together to form a handsign, causing the masked figure to slightly tense up further. In a small puff of white smoke, the Naruto clone released its henge form, revealing his true characteristics. Even though the figure was masked in ANBU attire, this person was visibly surprised by the sight taken in.

"You..." The Iwagakure ANBU operative was audibly lost for words before recollecting him or herself.

"I recognize that hitai-ate. It hasn't been long since a shinobi of Konohagakure left this country already. What brings another?"

"I will tell you one thing. I am searching for someone, and you are blocking my way. Judging by where you are standing, the village is _that_ way," the now blond, no longer black haired Naruto deducted, pointing a finger in the ANBU's direction.

"You are correct but knowing that information is pointless. You shall not get past me without the proper authorization."

The ANBU operative stood firm.

"Well not to worry, 'cuz my teammate has that authorization."

"Teammate? Where?"

"With my original self," the blond slipped. He continued, seemingly oblivious. "It won't be long before they get out of that hole."

"Original self? Hole? So are you telling me you are just a clone, and your original self, along with your comrad, is trapped in one of our defenses?" The masked character confirmed.

"Uh... unintentionally, yes. But enough chatting. I have somewhere to be."

Showing no threatening offensive signs, the blond began walking in the direction of the ANBU character. His intention was to walk past, all the while, tensed and ready to defend any attack at any moment.

Beings only a few yards away, it took just a couple seconds to reach the ANBU's position. Never breaking eye contact with the slits in the white mask, which just so happened to have a stretch of black cloth enveloping the person's head to prevent anyone from identifying the person by any noticable characteristics, Naruto easily walked past the unmoving figure unchallenged.

Still watching the masked figure now behind him, the blond kept walking. With now being a seemingly safe distance from the Iwa ANBU who had not even moved an inch, nor said a word since he started walking, the blond heard a noise in front of him. A scuffling sound as a foot slid against gravel. Whirling his head around, what he saw baffled him. Returning his gaze back to the figure behind him... it was gone. Once again, he focused on what was now in front of him.

"I told you that you would not get past me, did I not?"

"H-How the hell...?"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Akatsuki is on the move," a familiar voice said with an air of importance.

"Huh?" Another voice said in response, removing her intent gaze from the couch alongside a wall. The same couch Naruto had slept in after he passed out from putting on a certain piece of jewelry.

"I said-"

"I know what you said, but you have already told me this before," she interjected impatiently, somewhat quietly.

"True. But technically, before they had just started moving around again," the long white haired man began to explain. "What I am saying now is that now, they are actually doing something that concerns _us_. It has been reported to me that two members of Akasuki have started heading north."

"North? But that's- Shit! Are you sure it is just the two?"

"Positive."

"Shizune!"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?" Replied the assistant upon rushing through the office doors.

"Assemble Kakashi and Sai. This is an S Class emergency!"

"Hai!"

"Shouldn't you be alittle quieter?"

"No. She's going."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

**Three hours earlier...**

A certain lone kunoichi sat at a window seat table in a small sized dango shop in a desolate part of the village. After sitting undisturbed for several minutes, she was rather disappointed when the waitress came to her side, interrupting her somber contemplation. After morning training, she came to this place just to get away from any interruptions, but yet they still find her.

"What can I getcha' hun?" Said the older woman in a gentle voice.

Slowly looking up, Sakura gave the woman a dull stare and a quick inspection. She wore a somewhat wrinkled black dress with a white collar and white hems, black matching high heels and stockings that disappeared under her dress. She had straight, sandy blonde hair, few freckles upon her smooth cheeks and a small smile. She also wore a name tag pinned to her dress that read "Suzume". Overall, she looked pretty good compare to the dump she worked in.

Apparently Sakura had taken too long in her response as the waitress started speaking again as she moved both hands to her hips and tilted her head in a mannor that showed her impatience. What bit of a smile that had been there was now gone.

"Look Miss. I don't have all day. I have other things to do, ya know?"

A bit removed from her own apathy, Sakura sat up and took a quick look around. Other than a couple shady people in a dark corner, there were no other customers in the shop. Sakura cocked an eyebrow at this, wondering what else she could possibly have to do, but otherwise mentioned nothing about it.

"Water," she replies in her same stoic mannor. Seeing the condition of the shop, she thought it wise not to eat any of the food there. It was probably a bad idea to just drink the water.

The waitress simply rolled her eyes and with an overexaggerated sigh, she walked away muttering something about not making a profit.

The pink haired kunoichi then drooped back down to resting her head in her palm, elbow on the table. Mimicking her upset waitress, she let out an exaggerated sigh of her own. Hearing snickering across the room, she momentarily came out of her daze to look over to the source of the noise. Once again, she looked upon the people in the corner. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be men. They looked quite rough and unclean, possibly drunk. Their eyes darted from herself to the waitress then back at each other as the waitress appoached them with two dark mugs of what was pressumably alcohol and a glass of water on a tray. Handing them each a mug, Suzume stole a glance at Sakura as well before turning her back to her. Another moment passed and she was headed her way with her water.

A few seconds passed and she was recieving her "no profit" water and was left alone once more. At first glance, she could see the glass was actually clean and a part of her started reminding her just how thirsty she really was. She slowly lifted the glass to her lips. Apprehensive, she first gave it closer inspection, even sniffed it before finally parting her lips to let the liquid pass between them. It surprisingly tasted crisp and clean. Perhaps too clean? Just then, a some sort of warning clicked in her mind, but it was too late. She was suddenly overcome with drowsiness.

Peeling her eyes away from the glass, her eyes drifted to the waitress was was just standing behind the counter, staring at her expectantly. She strained her eyes as they came in and out of focus. Her vision then drifted to the men in the corner. At that moment, a screeching sound of wood on wood signaled that they pushed their chairs back and her blurry vision could see two figures headed her way.

In a feeble attempt to escape, she tried to stand by putting her hand on the table for support but her arm could not hold up her own weight. Clumsily crumbling over the table and onto the dirty floor, she barely held onto conciousness. In another attemt to save herself, she fumbled for her kunai pouch. Pulling out the sharp object, she threw it at the nearest approaching blob. Unfortunately, the kunai veered horribly off course and only caused further snicker from the approaching men. Hopelessly, she slapped her hand at the air in a last attempt to keep them away from her. Just moments before darkness had overtaken her, she could feel their hands begin to lift her up, all the while more subtle laughing and a michevious voice begins to speak.

"Don't worry, little lady. We'll take good care of you, heh heh heh."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

**Present...**

"How... did you do that? I must be in a genjutsu," the blond said rhetorically, not really expecting a reply. He then started to form the usual handsign to attempt to break the genjutsu.

"That's not going to work. You are wasting your time."

The blond ninja didn't pay any heed to the ANBU's advice and attempted to break the nonexistant genjutsu anyways. A minute later and the frustrated blond finally gave up, leaving the Iwa ANBU to speak up again.

"See... I told you. This is not a genjutsu."

"Whatever. Then get out of my way!" The blond demanded, clearly getting more aggitated.

"I can not do that, but since you say you are just a clone, I'll be more than happy to get rid of you if you do not turn back now."

"Forget it!"

"Very well..."

Before the ANBU made its move, the now impatient blond threw two kunai, easily dodged by his opponent and then moved in. The two were soon engaged in light taijutsu with Naruto sending out a few punches and a kick here and there. Surprisingly, none of his attacks made it through as each one was easily blocked, dodged, or simply pushed away as if they were nothing. Naruto then jumped to perform a spinning kick, aimed at his opponent's head, momentarily breaking eye contact. The target, who already had an arm held up to block the attack, did managed to stop the powerful blow, but just barely. Not showing any sign of pain, the ANBU, with amazing speed, grabbed Naruto's shin and easily landed a hard punch to the underside of his upper calf muscles while quickly dodging under another kick from his other leg.

Naruto jumped back from his opponent, placing most of his weight on his right leg while the pain subsided from his left. Standing there a moment, he noticed a very small buzzing sound in the back of his head, steadily growing louder and louder. Trying to ignore it, he moved back into the fight, effectively surprising the Iwa nin by his fast recovery.

_"There's no way a clone could take such a hard hit like that..."_ In his attempt to find quick answers, the ANBU was soon finding himself standing in a flooded hallway. For some reason, he was drawn in by an odd sensation. Following this intuition, he found himself in a cold, dank room. Before him stood great, towering cage doors with some sort of seal. Being led here was by no means of his own accord. A sudden wave of killing intent and red chakra flooded the room.

The Naruto clone stopped abruptly in its charge to place a hand to his head, trying to silence the buzzing noize that just grew exponentially before it suddenly stopped.

"What the hell..." He started.

**"Kid, that person was trying to dig into your mind. I felt him when he tried to push past your outter consciousness. He won't be able to get back in without my knowledge now that I know about it. Especially not since I doused him in **_**my**_** chakra."**

_"Thanks. You are actually good for somethin' else." _(He may just be a clone, but he still has the fox.)

The ANBU was positively unprepared as the blond resumed his charge, sending out a flurry of punches, some barely being blocked while others actually grazed off the white mask. Naruto then sent out another punch that he intended to be blocked. With his punch being smacked away mere inches from his face, the ANBU's blocking hand was immediately seized by the unrelenting blond. The same thing was done to get ahold of the other hand.

With both of the Iwa nin's hands firmly in Naruto's grasp, the blond didn't waste a second as he launched two heel kicks with both legs; one to his opponent's abdomen, the second two his sternum, and finally, one toe kick to his chin, effectively knocking the white mask from its position and into the air. At last, Naruto did one last kick to flip himself off and away from his opponent.

_Clack..._ The mask fell to the ground between the two ninja, causing Naruto's jaw to drop in realization. His opponent wasn't a _he_ afterall. It was a _she_. One with long, blonde hair tied into a poneytail, gently waving in the wind. A beautful face with shining, determined blue eyes.

"Wha... You..." This time, it was Naruto lost for words.

Not wasting any time herself, with the accompanying handsigns, she was soon heard yelling, Seishin-Dageki no Jutsu!" (Mind-Blow Technique)

With a quick and powerful burst of chakra, the blonde beauty forced her way into Naruto's mind once more and was soon having her way before the Fox could intercept.

A moment later, the clone was clutching his heart with a wild look of horror on his face before it poofed from existance. Only being a clone, it could not handle the sudden intensity of the cardiac arrest.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

The blonde still standing stared off into the now empty space in bewilderment. _"It... really was a clone..."_ She thought incredulously.

She then released her kekkei genkai and fell to her knees, no longer able to hold her own weight as the affects of her jutsu crashed upon her very mind. With a blazing headache and a bloody nose from the effects of over using the young potential of her mind, she barely held onto consciousness as her teammates came to her aide.

"Sensei! Are you ok?! You should have let us help you!" One newbie piped up.

"Shut it. She told us not to interfere," said another, more experienced one.

"But... was that... really just a clone?" The third and last one voiced out nonbelieving as he picked up the fallen mask and returned it to its owner.

A few minutes later, the blond's identity was covered again as a new voice rang into the dry air.

"I do not know what game you are trying to play, Jinchuuriki. But do not think a mask will hide your true identity. I can still sense the Kyuubi within." (Doused with Kyuubi chakra)

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Who's there?!"

Three of the four ANBU spoke up in unison just before they found themselves in sudden blackness as their new enemy came upon them. The final ANBU, though still conscious, fell to the ground once more, no longer supported by her teammates. Without the strength to continue, she was soon giving in to the new intruders and to the numbness in her body. Darkness overwhelmed her.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Judging by your discription, I'd say that is the same woman I told you about before. As I said the first time in the Hokage tower, she looks just like your _Oiroke no Jutsu_, except with clothes on... and no whisker marks," he finished in his usual nonchalant tone.

"Do you think that might mean... That she could be...?"

"There is no way of knowing at this point. But right now, we need to focus on getting out of here," he answered, predicting his question.

"Right!" The blond replied, now back on task. Trying the same thing he had before, he poured chakra into his hands and slowly started pushing against the wall. With the same effect as last time, the chakra filled wall repelled him back, but this time, Naruto wasn't distracted.

He started tapping into the Kyuubi chakra. Moments later, his effort proved to be working as he actually managed to touch the wall itself. At the same time, the entire area around them began to shake violently as more debris started to fall from above them.

"Stop Naruto! This place will cave in if you continue!" With that said, the blond slowly eased away from the wall as to not be thrown across the floor again.

"Damn it!" He fumed before taking a short moment to think.

"Hey!" He suddenly let out, apparently excited over some new idea.

"What?" Shino replied dryly, mildly curious.

"Why don't you have your bugs help us? They absorb chakra don't they?"

"Yes, they do. But this is far too much chakra for them to handle," he revealed.

"Oh... Well I don't know what to try without killing us in the proccess..."

"HEEEEY!" A similar voice echoed through the hole from above them.

Another Naruto, one in which the previous clone had made before continuing on, had shown up to help them out. He disappeared for a moment to pop back into view a second later, holding something out for them to see. A second later and he dropped whatever it was.

The two at the bottom of the hole stepped back, neither of them wanting to catch the item which was gaining alot of speed on its way down. After hitting botton with a surprisingly soft _thud_, Naruto stepped over to it to pick it up.

A _Fuuma Shuriken summoning scroll. _Another moment passed when the summoning scroll poofed out of existance along with its clone owner. This revealed the clone's plan to the original. Naruto's face suddenly brightened up.

"What is it?" Shino asked curiously.

Instead of answering, the blond ninja put his hands together before calling out the name of one of his favorite techniques. A moment later and many, many Narutos were taking out their own summoning scrolls and activating them. After that, every Naruto was yelling out, "Fuuma Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Hundreds of Fuuma Shurikens were flying in all directions, imbedding themselves deep into the walls, creating make-shift stairs for them to climb out.

Jumping onto one and bouncing on it to test its sturdiness, the clone put much more pressure than neccessary on it before it cracked the wall and dislodged itself from said wall causing the clone to fall down and be impaled by the large shuriken in the process. Screaming, the original realeased that particular clone and it's shuriken.

This scene was apparently pretty funny as Shino suddenly burst out laughing his ass off before stopping himself with some effort. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he forced himself to quiet down. Naruto merely stared stupidly at him, hearing his laugh for the first time.

Naruto then went to another imbedded shuriken and jumped on it and the next with much more grace than the clone had. He turned back to Shino.

"You coming?" With a smirk, he turned back around and started jumping from one large shuriken to the next. Shino followed suite, possibly still snickering to himself silently.

Both reaching the top a short while later, Naruto looked down the hole as he dispersed his clones, and along with them, their respective shurikens.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

**Two and a half hours earlier...**

"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!" Came the distant yelling from outside her window below.

"Ugh! What is it now?! Do I need to do everyth--" She began to say before she looked out the window. What she saw was certainly unexpected. Panic began to rise in her chest as a green clad ninja was seen running towards the Hokage Tower entrance. Moments later, various crashing and smashing noises were heard as the speeding ninja raced his way to the top before finally Shizune's voice rang out above all.

"Stop! Where do you think you're going?!"

"I cannot stop yet. The fire of youth propels me! This one may be in danger!" Seconds later, a green spandex clad ninja burst through the doors, nearly ripping them from its henges.

"What happened?!"

"I was unable to do 300 push-ups so decided to run 500 laps around Konaha. When I cut through the lower district, my eyes caught a horrible scene. These men seemed to have drugged her and I'm sure they were intending to have their way with her!" Lee recollected accurately.

When Tsunade heard this, she was thunderstruck. She began to yell with fire in her eyes, "WHERE ARE THESE MEN?! I'LL KILL 'EM!!"

"Not to worry, Hokage-sama. I have already taken care of those scum! They are surely still unconscious and possibly needing medical attention."

"Well they ain't getting it!!" She exclaimed with animosity. It was at that moment that Shizune disapprovingly shook her head at Tsunade's exclamation but not very deep down, felt the same way.

"Lee-kun, why is it that you brought her here instead of the hospital?" Shizune interrupted Tsunade's foul rant that just started.

"Well of course I would take her here! Not only was it closer, but there is no better medical specialist in the village that could help her more than the Hokage! The fires of youth still burn deep within her!"

For a moment, Tsunade took it as flattery before...

"What do you mean 'deep within me'? What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" She yelled, cocking a fist back before Shizune quickly jumped in between them.

"Tsu-Tsunade-sama! Don't you think you should take a look at Sakura-chan?" She desperately reminded her.

She lowered her fist in defeat before she dejectedly and angrily took Sakura from Lee's arms. Immediately laying her down on the same couch Naruto had been on before, her hand quickly began to glow bright green as she activated a scanning jutsu.

Moments later, a relieved sigh escaped her lips. "It was just a simple knock-out drug. She is only sleeping, nothing more. She'll be fine in a couple of hours. There should not be any lasting effects... Thank Kami."

Now relieved sighs were escaping the lips of Lee's and Shizune's after Tsunade's prognosis.

"Now," the blonde woman began again. "Where are those men?" She asked with an evil glint in her eyes.

At this, Shizune suddenly freaked out and hauled Lee out of the room before Tsunade could say anything more. Quickly getting the attention of an ANBU gaurd, she spoke.

"You! Grab a few more ANBU and follow this boy," turning her attention to Lee, she continued, "Show them where at what happened. They'll take care of the rest."

Luckily, they were gone in just seconds as Tsunade suddenly bolted out of her office.

"Shizune!"

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry if that got alittle boring at the end, I had to get Timmy outta the well, er I mean... Naruto and Shino outta the hole. Haha. I know, not funny **:(**

As for the beginning of this chapter, please keep in mind, that when the real Naruto made those clones to break his fall, they knew everything the original knew. Once a clone disperses, any and all remaining clones, including the original person, will aquire the knowledge of those clones. This means that the clone that was a few hours ahead of Naruto also learned of the new mission status when the clones were forcibly dispersed, breaking Naruto's fall. You might think that this clone probably should have dispersed as well due to the trauma the original went through. Just blame it on his new ring.

I was gonna put more, but since the whole 3 hour and 2 and a half hour scene wasn't originally in there, I decided that I'm gonna post this chapter and go to bed. It's almost 2:30 am...** :)**

Please review, let me know what you think. I know my fight scenes aren't all that great, but they're better than nothin.

Another effect of the Mind-Blow technique is as you had seen. A heart attack, though it puts great strain on the user. Basically, it uses the signals the brain sends out to do her bidding. If the job doesn't get done right the first time, then there is a huge opening for an attack on the user.

Until Next Time...


	9. Iwagakure and a New Mission

**Chapter Eight**

**Iwagakure and a New Mission**

"Sorry I'm late..." The masked Jounin started, but paused momentarily as he noticed the death glares he was getting from two powerful kunoichi. He continued apprehensively, "I was helping groceries cross the street with a bag of old lady when... er, I mean-"

"Shut up, Kakashi!!" - "Can it, sensei!!" The two woman yelled furiously before the Jounin could correct his mistake. In turn, the fearless Jounin seemed uncharacteristically frightened by the two woman while Sai stood indifferently next to him.

A minute passed before things calmed down. Sakura finally spoke up.

"What is the nature of this meeting, Hokage-sama?" Inquired a somewhat sleepy Sakura, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes after only been woken up minutes before by Tsunade's yelling.

Clearing her throat to bring all attention back to her once more, she answered, "Akatsuki is on the move."

At this statement, Kakashi and Sakura stiffened up, immediately seeing the importance of it. Sai, still, stood unaffected other than a questioning gaze at the two next to him. Seeing this subtle reaction from the usually emotionless ninja, Tsunade continued. Taking a deep breath, she started.

"Two members of Akatsuki are headed towards the Earth Country and they will surely arrive there before you. It is possible that they are already there. It is believed that these two Akatsuki members are none other than Uchiha Itachi as well as his partner, Hoshigaki Kisame. Reasoning for this is that these two are the ones that always showed up around Naruto in past events, so naturally, it is believed that Naruto is being targeted in the Earth Country while he is temporarily no longer under the protection of Konoha. It is imperative that they are stopped before capturing Naruto, even more so before they regroup with the rest of Akatsuki. Therefore you, you will first get as close to Amegakure as possible in order to intercept the duo on there way back. That is of course, _if _they succeed," she finally paused after a few breaths. Waiting a moment to let all the information sink in, she continued.

"Sai, I know you are not particularly informed on these two enemies, so read this..." With that said, Tsunade dropped a thin handbook on the edge of her desk. Before any of them had a chance to look through it, she spoke up once more, making this, perhaps, the most long winded mission briefing ever. "The book you see there contains a biography of the two said Akatsuki members as well the few jutsu we know are in their arsenals. Do not, by any means, depend on that book for information. There is definately alot more to them than what is in that handbook. Any questions?"

Kakashi merely nods in understanding, having put most of the information about the duo into that book.

"Uhh..." Sakura mumbled before getting finally letting all the information sink in. "Why is it just the three of us? Last time we went after Akasuki, we took more."

"Good question, and not to worry. After proving himself last time, Shikamaru is going with you as well. Between the four of you, plus Naruto and Shino if you can catch up in time, that makes six. We certainly can't go marching into another country with a small armada of shinobi, now can we?"

The group nodded simultaneously in agreement.

"Now prepare yourselves and leave immediately."

"Hai," Sakura sounded while the other two simply nodded before all three disappeared to prepare for their mission in haste.

Upon all being ready and meeting at the North entrance where Shikamaru had been waiting, they set out, but not before Shikamaru shared some comments about waiting a long time and something else about troublesome people.

Being in such a hurry and only stopping to eat and take short breaks, the group made it near the edge of the Fire Country by nightfall where they finally stopped at a Border town near Amegakure and Kusagakure.

The town was quite small with only one hotel, though it was of a decent size. The town also had one bath house, which was rather large for its small location. Sadly, the group, mainly the pink haired kunoichi, knew they would not have time for the much desired bath house. There were a few restaurants, but none noteable to speak of. The place wasn't really anything of a town than more of a rest stop. It had a small housing district, if you could call it that. This district acted more like an apartment complex as it was pretty well crammed together.

The small group of four ended their day's journey with a stop at the small town's hotel. The inside lobby was much like the streets outside. With night having taken a firm hold, the streets were nearly empty save for one beggar that had came groveling at the Copy Ninja's feet.

"P-Please, sir. Can you spare a coin f-for an old man such as myself?" Pleaded the ragged old man.

Almost guiltily, Kakashi reached into his money pouch to pull out a few coins and was soon placing them gently into the ragged man's outstretched hands.

"T-Thank you kindly, young sir!" The beggar said excitedly at his small profit, but with a mischevious glint in his eyes. Proceeding on his way, to a destination somewhere across the street behind the masked ninja, the man was soon halted by a firmly place hand on his shoulder.

"You shouldn't be so greedy," the Jounin stated as he forcibly took his money pouch back from the falsely sneaky beggar. "Most people these days wouldn't hesitate to kill you for that," he revealed with smiling eyes and a cheerfully scary tone.

The beggar became wide eyed and started apologizing profusely for his mistake before wobbling away as quickly as he could.

Sakura felt a shiver run down her spine at the fearful facade her sensei had just put on before finally speaking up with as much bravado as she could muster without overdoing it. "Come on, Kakashi-sensei. The others are waiting for us inside."

Silently, the masked ninja obeyed and continued on his way inside through the double glass doors, returning his gaze mostly to his usual book.

The lobby was as he expected. Mostly empty except for a few attendants doing their duties. What he had not expected was how nice and neatly decorated the place was. A small sitting area was situated in the right hand corner near the entrance while on the other side had a small stand with self-serve coffee and tea, complements of the hotel. Above this stand was a marvelous hand painting of the town itself.

Here and there were a few, obviously fake, little trees to liven up the place. Finally, several check-in windows at the other end of the room with hallways on either side where the other two corners of the room would be. Presumably, these hallways led to the rooms of that floor. Staircases were sure to be found somewhere along these passages to lead to the upper floors.

"Your room is located on this floor. Room number twelve down _this_ hall. Thank you and have a nice night," the attendant behind the counter told them in her obvious routine way and seemingly fake smile.

They followed their directions and took the hall to their left. The walls were of a surprisingly immaculate white and the doors along the walls bore brass room numbers as well as brass door knobs. It wasn't long before the door with the number twelve tagged on it came into view. Upon opening it revealed a decent sized room with a restroom at the furthest end on the right and only one bed... but with plenty of the room on the floor.

"I call dibs on the bed!" Sakura called out immediately after inspecting the room. "A girl must have her beauty sleep!" She added as if it really made a difference in her reasoning.

With a sigh from Kakashi and a 'troublesome' remark from Shikamaru, the three males took their places on the floor with Sai acting as detached from the world as usual, but that didn't stop his next words from escaping his lips.

"Yeah. You really need it," he casually remarked with a fake smile.

Needless to say, morning came fast for Sai as he was put to sleep for the night prematurely. The rest of the group was up by dawn and ready to go less than an hour later.

"Well that was practically pointless," let out the pineapple haired Chuunin while massaging the crank in his neck. "That stay was hardly worth the money put into it."

"Whatever Shikamaru. You're just upset because you didn't get the bed," noted a well rested Sakura.

"Ugh... women..." came his usual remark about the opposite sex. On that note, his mind seemed to drift away for a moment to a certain Suna kunoichi.

"Time to go," called out the Jounin.

Another boring hour later and the group was surrounded by tall grass and sparse trees. Moments later, they were being confronted by a Kusa ninja.

"We have the official authorization to pass through. You should have already been notified," the masked ninja informed.

"Yes we have. You will be escorted to the other border," replied a second voice from behind them, causing no reaction from the team what-so-ever.

"Very well."

Not surprisingly, the Kusa ninja found themselves having to increase their own speed to keep the Konoha shinobi in check but were soon entering the Earth Country after a very silent, uneventful trip.

"We will depart here," stated the Kusa ANBU.

The group merely nodded in agreement and were soon off on their own.

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"This is where we fought..."

"Well you didn't think she would stick around and wait for you, did you?"

"I don't know... but I'm half expecting someone to jump out at me again."

"Lets continue walking. The village is this way," with that said, Shino took the lead with Naruto mumbling something along the lines of 'I know...'

Coming within a few miles of Iwagakure, Shino motioned for them to stop.

"What is it?" The blond blurted out before realizing what it was. Moments later, they were surrounded by battle ready Iwa ANBU.

"State your business immediately," this team captain spoke up.

Shino, who not only expected them but also sensed them coming, had already prepared the authorization. Without saying a word, he handed the paper out to the one who had spoken. The man, judging by his deep voice and well toned biceps, stepped forward cautiously before taking the paper. He looked identical to the rest except for his mask. It bore the design of the sun baked ground beneath their feet with the likeness of cracks running through dry dirt and finally, the Rock symbol on its forehead.

"Very well. I knew I had recognized you. Who is this person you are searching for?" The captain asked after reading the details of the paper. Before Shino could, the blond piped up.

"We didn't know at first, but now we do. I'm looking for that blonde ANBU woman with a plain white mask."

The Iwa group suddenly tensed up. "How do you know of this discription?" The captain spoke defensively while the rest stayed obediantly calm.

"Heh, about that... She and my clone got into a fight. My clone knocked her mask off. That's how..."

Behind his mask, the captain certainly wore a look of disbelief.

"You expect me to believe a mere clone of yours actually _did_ do that to her?" The masked man asked, apparently having heard word about the fight between the two.

At this point, Shino decided it best to step in. "Yes, actually. He was with me while his clone was out exploring. I hope he did not cause too much of a disturbance."

"Disturbance?!" An ANBU behind them lost his will to keep quiet before his captain silenced him.

"Disturbance, you say? When we located her team, she was not among them and her team was unconscious. She is missing as of this moment."

"What?! That can't be-"

"We do, however, have a clue as to what happened. One of her team managed to wake up long enough to tell us what happened. He stated that two figures in strange cloaks made an appearance, but then he blacked out."

"Cloaks?" The blond repeated, fearing the worst.

"Did he give any detail on these cloaks?" Shino asked from behind his high collar and dark sunglasses.

"Not as of yet. Since you do have the authorization to be here, you may accompany us to the village. We all may have more answers then."

The two Konoha shinobi nodded in agreement and continued in the direction they were previously heading.

Naruto noticed he was getting a few nervous glances by two of the ANBU on either side of him but decided it best to ignore them.

About twenty minutes later, they came to a great valley of rock that had been carved out by running water. (Think Grand Canyon)

"Whoa..." the blond softly breathed out, followed by a whistle. "Amazing."

"I'm glad you like our home, but lets continue."

They were soon traversing down into the deep canyon. Becoming somewhat bored with the silence, the blond piped up.

"So, Shino..." Said shinobi cocked an eyebrow at the sound of his name. "Remind me, why were you in the Earth Country again?"

"Treaty efforts," he simply answered, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Well it's not looking too good," he replied sarcastically, mentally noting the oddity of Shino's condition. Sweating? Sure it's hot out, but neither of them had been sweating before and Naruto still wasn't sweating now.

"I'm not the one that got into a fight with one of their ANBU captains," he calmly shot back before taking a subtle but sharp breath. It was then that Naruto noticed his shortness of breath.

"You feeling okay, Shino?" He asked with a hint of worry.

"I'm fine," he shot back alittle too quickly for his character causing an uncomfortable silence between the two.

After about twenty silent minutes of rounding what seemed like a hundred corners to Naruto, but much less than that to Shino who knew they were under the affect of a genjutsu to protect the location of the village, they finally came to a section of the canyon with a stone overpass above them that read _"Iwagakure no Sato" _in engraved letters. Further after that, the walls of the canyon appeared to have many homes and buildings carved out of the rock abundant with people. About a half a mile of this scene showed a dead end where a surprisingly, large man-made cave was neatly carved out of the rock, leading downwards.

While Shino simply stared straight ahead, ignoring the scene he had already seen once before, Naruto looked around in continuous awe as people came in and out of the stone houses and children played in the streets. Occasionally, a novice Iwa ninja would be seen doing their duties around the stone village. Finally, after walking through and past the housing district of the village now behind them, they found themselves at the entrance of the large mouthed cave.

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"You have got to be kidding me! Who the hell is this person? You said it was the Jinchuuriki!" A fish-like man cursed, clearly irate.

"Silence, you fool," demanded a familiar monotonous voice.

"No! Admit it. You made a mistake."

"I sensed the Kyuubi within at the time," the voice defended indifferently.

"Well obviously not anymore! You should have took the mask off before we took her. Now what do we do with her?"

"..."

"We could just dump her somewhere outside," the fish man offered hopefully..

"Nonsense. There is... something about her."

"Oh? Are you crushing on her?"

The dark haired man snorted at this comment. "She's waking up..."

The blonde girl stirred and finally, slowly opened her eyes. Not at first registering the two figures looking at her, she hazily observed her surroundings. She appeared to be a small cave of some sort. Suddenly, the shock of the previous day hit her, though from her point of view, she was unaware of how much time had elapsed.

"Where am I? Who are you? Why have you brought me here?" She demanded with some concentration, determination evident in her blue eyes.

"In a cave. Uchiha Itachi. We mistaked you for-"

Itachi himself, along with Kisame, were slightly surprised at how willingly he answered those questions.

"Who are you, girl?" He asked calmly, curiosity secretly peaking.

Remembing the vague details of what happened earlier, she knew these men were strong to have taken out her entire team in mere seconds. She had to play it safe... for the most part.

"You captured me, yet you don't know who I am? I see no need to answer your questions." For the first time, she noticed her hands were bound. Had they not been, she might have been able to use her abilities to at least temporarily paralyse these two while she escaped. But just merely coaxing his one mind to answer two and a half of her three questions started to bring back her massive headache. It was much too soon to do anything on that level just yet.

"It doesn't sound like she is too fond of life..." Kisami jokingly pointed out with a chuckle while placing a hand on his Samehada in an attempt to intimidate the blonde girl. Getting no reaction other than a bored sigh, he started to mumble something while placing the weapon on his shoulder with a firmer grip on the hilt of the sword with the intention to put it to use.

"Calm yourself, Kisame. She is making a fool of you," advised the dull voice.

Still mumbling incoherently, fish-face reluctantly returned his sword back to his side, though not letting it go.

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"Hinata," a voice sounded out to a vigorously training Hyuuga.

"Hm? Oh, Tou-san?" She replied, taking a short break from her strenuous activity.

"..."

After noting his strange, thoughtful silence, she continued. "Is there something I can help you with?" She asked, wiping the sweat from her brow.

Putting on a stern face, he spoke, "I will cut straight to the point. I want to see how far your training has progressed. So prepare youself."

Caught off guard, she tried to politely deny his request. "I-I'm sorry Tou-san, but I have been training vigorously for the past three hours. I am very tired at the moment and certainly would not live up to any expectations."

"You speak as if I expect something good out of you," he ruthlessly remarked, keeping to his harsh demeanor earning a dejected look from his daughter. "Even at your current state of exhaustion, I may be able to determine your true strength, if you have any."

Feeling there was no way to get out of it, she held back a sigh and reluctantly complied. Falling back into her Jyuuken stance, she readied herself. "Byakugan!"

Expertly holding back his pleasure with her compliance, he readied himself as well. "Byakugan."

Though very tired, she charged in smoothly with the intent to prove there was much to be expected of her. With many well place jabs and thrusts, she kept her father on the defensive for a short while before he almost effortlessly diverted a crucial strike, slightly throwing off her next few strikes in the process, making them easier to avoid.

Quickly devising a strategy to use this to her advantage, she purposely threw out one more ill aimed strike. Hiashi easily diverted to her right, which she knew was the obvious choice to make and therefore already shifted her stance to prepare a strike in that direction. Hiashi mistakenly moved into her attack but seeing it at the last second, twisted his body into a downward motion, leaving the attack to glance off his side. Hinata, having put her last ounce of strength into that last attack, was easily held in place by her still outstretched hand while Hiashi delivered a much less than fatal Jyuuken thrust to her midsection causing the Hyuuga heiress to double over and fall to her knees. Her body now forced her to give in to the will of her tired muscles as she propped herself forward on her arms, panting heavily with her hair hanging over her face.

"Well done. You have certainly earned my expectations." Turning as to no longer face her, he continued, "Good day, Hinata... san."

Needless to say, the pale eyed girl was estatic at this nowfound recognition and had not noticed her father walk away with odd haste.

Now a safe distance away around a corner and out of sight , the seemingly cold hearted clan head released the much needed, though short lived, coughing fit as he brought a nursing hand to his side followed by slightly faster paced breathing before quickly recovering. Unseen and unknown to anyone else, he let the corners of his mouth curve upward, just a little.

The Hyuuga girl he always looked down upon with distaste actually managed to graze his lung with her Jyuuken strike and he knew that was no easy feat, especially for one so exhausted as her.

After a few long minutes, Hinata managed to gain control of her breathing and steadied herself on just her knees alone. A minute later and she was struggling to get to her feet when a branch member came to her side, head bowed.

"Hyuuga Hinata-sama, you have a visitor. Shall I turn him away?" She inquired respectfully, noting her current exhaustion.

_"Him?"_ She thought. At that moment, only one person entered her mind. Only one person she could think of that would risk butting heads with her father.

"No," she replied softly with a well restrained smile. "That won't be neccessary. Please, send him in."

"As you wish, Hinata-sama," the branch member complied before exiting.

Standing up straighter and turning her back to the entrance of the courtyard as to better compose herself before being seen, she smiled deeply as she heard two pairs of footsteps pause a small distance behind her. A moment later and she heard one of those pairs walk away. She knew if she looked at the face of her long time crush and now her boyfriend, she would just melt with happiness, so for the sake of holding up her composure, she did not turn around. With her father possibly still nearby, she cold not risk raising any more suspicion than what his arrival surely already has.

"I-I didn't expect you back so soon. How did your search go?" She asked, desperate to keep her breathing steady even still.

"Huh? What search?" He asked, dumbfounded.

Recognizing the voice as someone other than her Naruto-kun, she whirled around in shock which was soon after followed by a whistle from her visitor.

"Wow, Hinata! I can see why you wear that jacket. One look at that body of yours would knock people out!" This comment was followed by a resounding bark.

"Kiba!" Replied a thoroughly flushed yet exasperated Hinata as he arms flew up to hide herself.

"What? I'm just saying how good you look. You should take it as a compliment," he defended as she looked around the courtyard, desperate to locate her jacket.

A moment after scambling for her jacket, she spoke up.

"W-What do you want, K-Kiba?" She asked, sounding annoyed but still slightly embarassed.

"Not much really. Just wanted to see if you would like to hang out or something," he casually asked as Akamaru chose that moment to run to her, brushing against her signalling his want to be pet.

Bending over only alittle to accomodate for the dog's rather large size, she began to pet Akamaru from head to toe.

Panting happily with his treatment from the girl, he turned his head quickly giving Hinata a few licks in the face, eliciting a few joyish laughs from her.

"Just as friends?" He added. "What do you say?"

Akamaru decided to add his own pleading whine that wiped all signs of previous annoyance from the Hyuuga's face.

With some signs of difficult decision, she looked from pleading dog to calm Kiba before finally giving in.

"I suppose," she said at least with a sigh before quickly adding, "But just for a little while. I'm exhausted."

* * *

**A/N: **Go Hinata! Though mostly boring, I liked how this chapter turned out. It turns out Kisami has a sense of humor... where'd that come from?

Anyways, please review. I would certainly like to know what you think. Any suggestions to liven up the story would be much appreciated.

Until Next Time...


	10. Identities

**Chapter Nine**

**Identities**

Being underground with no source of light, the entire area had a strange illumination to it as the ceiling seemed to give off some sort of glow. Having followed the long winding path, or maybe that was a genjutsu as well, they didn't know, they were now at the end of the tunnel and had a perfect view overlooking this portion of the village.

"Amazing..." He said again as he took in the sight of the underground portion of the village. This appeared to be the business as well as government section of the village. Certainly a smart place to hide the most important part of the village. An attack here would be almost impossible, assuming there are plenty of well placed traps and defenses to keep the attacking party upstairs.

At first, Naruto had a hard time discerning how the business district separated itself from the government district but soon figured it out. The main thing that sparked his mind into realization was a building which was in the very middle standing out like a sore thumb. It was the Tsuchikage Tower. It seemed to be a very smart design with public safety in mind. In a layored fashion, the government facilites were located in the very center while the food district, though thin in size due to it being stretched out, was located _around_ the government district. Next was the shopping district. Fairly larger than the food district, it too, was stretched to expand all the way around both districts at its middle.

With everything a pretty much equal distance from the government district, if any sort of 'accident' occured, authorities would always be near. The main thing that seemed to be a disadvantage with this design was that if you just bought and ate yourself a meal on one side of the food district while a store that you wanted to shop at was clear opposite, you would have a long ways to go... if you weren't a ninja. Of course this revelation hadn't come so quickly to him, but it did never-the-less.

With their escorts kindly giving them time to take in the sight, they finally started moving again. This brought one more thing to his attention. What he then noticed not only disappointed him, but really made his heart sink.

There was yet another district. A housing district? It was slightly elevated above the shopping district, which in turn, was elevated above the food district, leaving the government distict the lowest part of the cavern. Of the people he saw in this newer looking housing district, he noticed a distinct difference between them. Their clothing.

These people before him now wore such nice clothing, possibly of some of the most expensive fabric they owned. But those of the people outside... Thinking back, he recalled one particular kid laughing and playing but his state of dress was horrible and he was probably wearing the best thing he owned. A dirty, ragged torn t-shirt along with cut off jeans of equal raggedness... and his shoes; he didn't have any!

This recollection brought a moistness to his eyes. These people weren't treated as equals... just like him, though with one obvious difference. At that moment, something changed his mood, at least on the outside. A most wonderful aroma entered his nostrils as a mix of many different types of foods wafted together.

They had passed through the housing district and the shopping district to come into the food district. So deep in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed the progress they made down the two separate set of stairs separating the districts.

As much as he looked around, he couldn't distinguish one smell from the other and had almost set off on a small journey to figure it out when a pain stakingly familiar voice set him straight.

"Naruto..." The dull voice sounded out in an almost Sakura-like manor. Cringing at the thought of the pink haired kunoichi in her angry mood, he forced himself to stay the path led to them. To him, it seemed like torture to force him to pass up such a positively tasty adventure.

With the food district being as thin as a one-sided streat, it took them only a few minutes to pass through it and they were soon being lead down a flight of stairs leading to the circular government district, but that didn't stop the wonderful smells from following them as they went. It was then that the bug user suddenly went into a small coughing fit, before glancing at his bandaged hand.

"Shino-"

"It's nothing. My bugs will take care of it," he blurted out before the blond could finish.

Not being as dumb as everyone thought, he knew bandages were used mainly for one thing. Injuries. Quickly digging into his backpack, he pulled out a familiar small bottle and handed it to Shino.

"If you're injured, this will surely make the healing go by much faster with the help of your bugs."

Reluctantly taking the small bottle from his caring friend, he felt a sense of gratitude surge within him.

"... Thank you, Naruto," he said, staring into his eyes. Without such medicine, the infection would have taken at least a few more hours to for the bugs to overcome. How on Earth the infection progressed so quickly was beyond him. His only idea was that the jagged wall that sliced his hand open must have been laced with some sort of chemical or poison. They kept walking while Shino put the medicine to use and re-bandaged his hand.

One of the first buildings he saw looked similar to that of the Konoha Police building. With a few differences, it read _Tsuchikagure Police_. Another building a little further away looked like a hospital as it was bustling with people in white cloaks coming in and out every so often. The name of the building was obstructed by the angle in which he looked at it.

"Where's the ninja academy?" He wondered out loud. One of the ANBU that were escorting them had disappeared mysteriously, when and why he left was unknown to him, but the one he noticed earlier that was giving him secretive glances spoke up to answer his question.

"It is outside. You must have missed it."

"Outside? How come? It's much nicer in here."

"That's precisely the reason. We have our shinobi train and learn outside to be sure they are used to the unrelenting weather conditions that the world may throw at them."

"Makes sense."

"We are here," the captain spoke up after they maneuvered in between two towering buildings to reveal another, even taller building. Just above the large wooden double doors, it bore the words _Tsuchikage Tower _in big demanding letters. On both wooden doors bore the symbol for the rock village as well, so there was no mistaking it.

Naruto was about to ask the question, _Why here when the guy is in the hospital?_ But the answer was just as obvious as the question was stupid. Briefing and answers, one right after the other.

They were soon at the top floor and the captain led them to red oak doors. He was then knocking on them in some sort of pattern after which a deep authoritative voice was heard ushering them inside.

"What brings you back so soon Captain? Your shift is-" The man's words stopped dead as Naruto entered. His briefly calm visage now sporting one of shock and recognition and slight... anger? His age was judged to be roughly around his fourties by his black hair mixed with several strands of gray hair snd a few wrinkles around his mouth and eyes. He was clean shaven.

Regaining his composure, he continued. "So these are the ones I was informed about?" He asked, indirectly revealing where the other ANBU had gone off to.

"Hai," the captain replied.

"And I suppose you are all wanting answers?" He asked, eyeing his own ANBU as well.

"Hai," most of them chimed in all at once except for Shino and Naruto who remained uncharacteristically quiet, intent on what he wanted to know.

"Well you are just in time. I recieved word only a few minutes ago that..." he stopped himself from revealing the man's name and continued without it, "...our ANBU opperative woke up once more to reveal more information."

At this moment, Naruto subtly leaned closer subconsciously as if it would help him get the information sooner.

"He is still unaware of what jutsu it was that so easily knocked out his team, but unknown to the the attackers, he was still conscious long enough to see what they were wearing and what direction they were going."

"Black cloaks with red clouds?" Naruto asked impatiently. This apparently, caught the Tsuchikage offguard but he soon continued anyways.

"Uh... yes. How did you know?"

_Sigh._ "Because they were after me... er, technically, my clone. But I guess since she got a mouthful of the Kyu- uh, my chakra... they must have mistaken her for me after she finally defeated my clone," the blond revealed reluctantly.

"I see... well the direction they went was actually-" He was interrupted by another coded knock at the door.

"Ah, come in," the Tsuchikage called out, sporting another look of recognition on his face..

Upon opening the door revealed that of a young dark haired kunoichi.

"Oh, sorry to interrupt, but I was hoping for a progress report, Tsuchikage-sama."

Naruto, who had not bothered to look to see who entered, audibly gasped at the sound of her voice. He'd definately heard it before. He suddenly whipped around to see her face and in turn, the woman saw his face. She too let out a somewhat stifled gasp.

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"Hey, this is..." Was the beginning of the sentence followed by a sharp intake of breath.

Everyone in the group turned to look in the direction of the kunoichi's voice to see an object dangling from a strap in Sakura's hand.

"This is... Shino's water canteen... You don't think...?"

"... Of course not. Shino is a very capable person, even more so with Naruto by his side," the masked Jounin assured her but continued to make sure she believed him, "Look around. Do you see any signs of a struggle? He must have accidently dropped it."

Sakura looked slightly relieved until Sai finally spoke up.

"Unless it was Naruto carrying it, then it's certainly understandable if they accidently left it behind."

Sakura wasn't sure if this helped or not. But soon images started entering her mind of them dying of thirst while crawling across a dessert wasteland.

Seeing this, Kakashi couldn't help but sigh helplessly. They continued walking for another mile, taking a slow pace to be sure not to miss any clues when they came upon a big... deep one.

"What the hell is this?" Sakura piped up _again_.

"Quiet down girl. Are you trying to fill in for Naruto or something?" Sai asked before the kunoichi sent yet another punch his way, almost sending him down the hole.

"Well, it's hard to tell from this distance, but it looks like somebody made camp down there," Kakashi informed.

"Serious? You mean... someone _actually _fell down there?"

"Judging by these jagged edges and all the remnants of the makeshift ceiling that covered this hole that are now down there... Yup."

"Musta been Naruto cuz' he isn't there now," Sakura guessed.

"Speaking of which... doesn't that feel like his chakra signature?" The unsure Jounin asked, looking in another direction.

The two concentrated for a moment before Sakura answered. "Seems very close to it... but-"

"Who are those other two?" Shikamaru finally spoke up.

"I don't have a very good feeling about this... It may be them. Let's check it out but be on guard. I sense a third chakra signature heading this way."

"Hai," Sakura sounded off to her sensei, mentally preparing herself for battle.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Damn, they started heading this way. What should we do, Itachi?"

"It's only four. Lets get rid of them," he answered dully.

"I hope you die," the blonde girl sounded off nonchalantly.

Kisame let out a growl while the Uchiha activated his Doujutsu. "You will stay here, girl. I still want answers and I will take them by force if I have to."

Before she could shoot back with the usual sarcastic comments she's been throwing all day, she found herself in a forced sleep where an odd dream took place. The kind of dream that had stopped occuring when she began her mental training.

_"Then why? Why?! Was it all for nothing... Everything we did together? Was it all meaningless?"_

_"It's not meaningless... To me, you have... become a close friend."_

Unable to do anything about it, the dream skips ahead.

_**"Even if I have to break the bones in your arms and legs, I will stop you!!"**_

"Ugh, what the... hell was that?" She said with a fearful shiver, waking up. What had only felt like five minutes dreaming was actually much longer. Looking around blurry figures, "Where... the hell am I now?"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Yes, of course. You see the resemblance as well. Just as I expected," said the Tsuchikage to the new arival.

"Uh... yeah," she agreed, not taking her eyes off the boy. Finally, she regained her composure. "But sir. Please tell me, have you heard anything on my Minoru-chan?" She asked with pleading eyes.

Thinking ahead, he answered her question expertly for the given situation. "We have a small discription of her captors, but not of their location," he lied.

"Why do you lie to me? You think I am too involved with this case, is that why you won't let me go after her?" She asked angrily, easily seeing through the fabrication.

_Sigh. _"You are too smart for your own good, but it is as you say. You cannot go. I will put you under ANBU guard if neccessary."

At this, the kunoichi angrily sighed in defeat.

"Please return to your home," he instructed her.

She began to head out in compliance with his request when one last thought entered her mind. "You there," she said in the blond's direction. Said blond pointed to himself in a questioning fashion.

"Yes, you. What is your name?"

"Heh. My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" He answered proudly.

The woman now in the doorway seemed to have forgotten how to breath upon hearing his surname. She stood there, breathless, not sure what to do. If the Tsuchikage made any sort of reaction to this, it went unnoticed as for the brief moment, no one was looking at him.

"What about you? What's your name? I've noticed you people like to refrain from using your names around us..." He wisely noted.

Said woman turned her head to give the Tsuchikage a questioning glance. He nodded his head to say it was ok to answer.

"My name is... Rin."

* * *

**A/N: **Readers must be hating me right now for that cliffhanger... but I'm pretty sure everyone already knew who she was anyways. I thought it was getting obvious.

I finished two complete chapters today, but I'm gonna wait a few days to post chapter ten to give you guys a chance to review. The more reviews I get, the sooner I post the next chapter.

Anyways, things are coming close to an end but there is still more excitement and mystery to come. Hope you guys enjoy. One more thing, I don't know if any of you noticed this, but I believe Minoru is a male name, but it works better for the story, so I'm using it. Can anybody tell me what is so special about that name? You might get a prize.

Until Next Time...


	11. Itachi Go Boom

**Chapter Ten**

**Itachi Go Boom**

After they were instructed of the direction of their target, it wasn't long before the duo were racing after the blonde female, and soon also, their fellow comrads.

"Hey! I sense alot of chakra up there!" The blond yelled to his teammate over the rushing wind of their high speed travel.

"Naruto! Slow down. This is Akatasuki we'll be dealing with! We must form a plan!"

"I have a plan! I _plan _to kill them!!"

"Don't be irrational, Naruto! We'll have no cover. If they sense us coming, we'll have no hope of rescuing anyone! Then they might get their hands on the Kyuubi!" These words actually managed to burrow deep into the blond's mind as they practically sapped most of his rage midstep before coming to a halt.

"Then what do we do? Huh?!" He hollared at his teammate before the full meaning of what his friend actually said hit him full force.

"Wait... How did you know about the Kyuubi? I... I never told you," He asked in a deadly calm tone of voice, curiosity clearly evident on his face.

Shino was struck silent at his own horrible slip up.

"Well?!" He asked once more, anger lacing his words once again.

"In the beginning of our trip... I always had my suspicions since then," he started out slowly, trying to get his explanation out cleanly the first time.

"When my bug bit you, it sucked out a small portion of your chakra. When it returned to me, I could feel the essence of your normal chakra, but deep deep down... I could feel something else mixed with it. Something evil..."

That last word seemed to drive Naruto into a depression. Feeling scorned by his new friend, he turned away from him to keep him from seeing the sadness... the anger in his eyes, on his face.

"I ignored those suspicions for a while after that until your leg injury... I knew it healed unnaturally fast. It was then too, that my bugs could feel that chakra. It was slowly being sucked out of your body by those chakra sapping walls along with your natural chakra. My bugs refused to leave my body..."

Suddenly a thought and a memory struck Naruto... _"I don't normally eat like this... - By the looks of it out there, there does not seem to be much to scavenge so it looks like I'll be the one sharing this time."_

"It wasn't the fact that there wasn't anything for your bugs to scavenge, it was the fact that they _refused_ to scavenge... because of me," he realized despairingly.

"Don't take it the wrong way, Naruto. My bugs were the ones that were afraid... not me," he revealed in an attempt to regain the boys attention and trust. Sure enough, a shimmer of hope shone through for the boy as he turned around to glare at Shino questioningly.

"Then finally, my suspicions were proven correct," he continued.

"Back in the Tsuchikage's Office, you almost revealed it's name. The Kyuubi."

At this, Naruto shifted his stare to the ground. Eyebrows furrowed, confusion and uncertainty written on his face.

"I have gained a newfound respect for you, Naruto," Shino revealed, once again earning a puzzled look from his friend.

"You have kept us all safe from the beast by keeping it within yourself. You have suffered from a truely horrible childhood because of this, but not once did you give in. You are perhaps, the strongest out of all of us."

"You mean... I don't disgust you, Shino?" Naruto asked, hope and happiness shining through rather than depression and self contempt.

"Not at all Naruto," he answered, earning a much more joyful response from the boy.

"Then lets go save our friends!" He exclaimed, exhibiting the 'good-guy' pose.

"Ok, then. I have an idea..." The intelligent bug user was soon discussing a familiar plan to defeat their enemies, or at the very least, buy them some time.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

A low quiet yawn came forth from the Hyuuga's lips as she stretched her arms.

"So where are we going?"

"You'll see," Kiba answered with a smile in her direction with Akamaru barking in agreement as usual.

After walking in odd silence, the Inuzuka residence finally came into view. Though when Hinata saw it, she couldn't help but let her spirits fall just a bit.

Slightly apprehensive of his reasoning for bringing her to his home, she broke the silence.

"Why have we come here?"

"I wanted you to meet a few new friends of mine, that's all," he answered innocently.

A few minutes later, they were walking around to the back of the compound where another building stood. After stepping inside, she realized the building served as a large kennel for many newborn pups. There were quite a few makeshift beds for the young animals and almost right after walking in, half of the animals that were inside sleeping chose that moment to wake up. Seconds later, the room was filled with the sounds of excited yapping puppies eager to play with Kiba and the visitor.

Taking in the site of about twelve puppies in various colors and small sizes, she couldn't help but let out an "Awww" and "How cute!" as she knelt down to give as much attention to each of them as she could. She giggled as they playfully knawed and scratched at her hands and rolled on their backs as she scratched their bellies.

"This is wonderful Kiba! I didn't realized you had so many," she exclaimed, engrosssed in the joyfulness of the exuberant pups.

"Yeah, it can be a handful sometimes. My sister Hana usually does most the work when she isn't busy with the animals at the hospital."

"Did somebody say my name?" Said a female voice, revealing herself from a back room.

"Oh it's you... You didn't harm that poor Akamaru again, did you?"

Before Kiba had a chance to defend himself, said dog was urgently making his behind Hana through the door she had come out of.

Never seeing this kind of behavior from the dog that almost never left his master's side, she couldn't help but ask the obvious question.

"What's with Akamaru?" She asked, silencing Kiba's comeback.

"Oh, that's what I wanted to show you..." He said with a mischevious grin, leading the way to the back room as Hana stepped aside to allow access.

"Unbelieveable... Akamaru?" She questioned skeptically.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

It wasn't long before the one-sided battle came into view with a light blue skinned person, mostly hidden in the usual Akatsuki cloak and wielding his giant sword, was happily beating away at strange white and black outlined creatures leaving puddles of ink here and there while also occasionally batting off an overly frustrated pink haired kunoichi. Shikamaru was in the distance performing a string of handsigns.

Meanwhile, a sharingan clad ninja dressed in much the same attire was facing off with the familiar masked sharingan user. While apparently standing still doing nothing what-so-ever, Naruto knew well by personal experiences that they were doing far from nothing. They were surely in their own genjutsu war with Kakashi most likely on the losing end judging by his sweaty visage and slightly quickened pace of breathing.

Jumping into the fray he first let his eyes on, he yelled to a furious Sakura to focus on first aid and let him handle the 'tuna.'

"What was that, boy?!" Shot back an angered Kisame, no longer enjoying his excercise.

His reply soon came back, echoed twenty times over as nineteen extra Naruto's appeared. "You heard me fish face! I'll take you by myself!" Without missing a beat, all the Naruto's were soon releasing the contents of a familiar scroll. Half of the Naruto's jumped into the air for a better shot as they all hurled their fuuma shurikens.

"Hah! That's pathetic!" Yelled a, once again, joyful Kisame as he easily batted away a few of the large flying weapons with his Samehada and ignored the ones he knew were to miss. Unheard words came out of one of the blond's mouth as he threw one last fuuma shuriken.

His aim was true as the large shuriken headed straight for the missing nin.

"Too easy..." The man said to himself as he put his sword up to his chest to block the incomming weapon. Much to his surprise, just as the weapon made contact with his own, it poofed out of existance with a cloud of smoke hindering his view.

Seeing his chance to strike, the newest member of Konoha's Team Seven made his move as he muttered to himself the name of a jutsu with the corresponding handsigns. Painful screams penetrated the odd silence as the small cloud of smoke dissipated revealing what had happened. The ink that was stained onto his sword from defending against Sai's artistic creatures had come back to life as they formed into sharp pikes and pierced into the missing nin's chest, barely missing his heart.

"My chakra flows through that ink. So long as I am alive to control it, that weapon will be more useful to us than it will be to you," the poorly dressed Konoha shinobi sounded off triumphantly.

"ARRGGH!!" The now thoroughly pissed and bloody Kisame screamed as he threw his weapon off to the side before it caused him anymore harm seeing how dousing it in a water blast jutsu from his mouth proved ineffective. He now resorted to his other water jutsus as he spat out water bullets, destroying only a few clones. In a blur of extremely fast handsigns, next came his Water Dragon Projectile Technique.

"Eat this kid!" Kisame yelled as the towering water dragon came forth from a seemingly shallow but large puddle of water by his feet. Only seconds later, the deadly dragon hurled itself at Naruto and all his clones.

"Kage Ridairekushon (Shadow Redirection)," yelled a familiar voice as a black hole opened up between the Narutos and the water dragon. At that moment, every shadow in the immediate area was temporarily sucked into the black hole, making it large enough to fit the width of the dragon. Moments later, the dragon was seen disappearing into the circular shadow since Kisame was unable to change its course so suddenly. The black hole disappeared just as quickly as the dragon went in.

"What did you do, boy?" Asked an irritated Kisame.

"Look up..." answered Shikamaru just as the black hole reappeared above the Akatsuki member. A split second later, the dragon was crashing into its master, forcing Kisame to his hands and knees by the sheer force of the direct hit by his own jutsu.

Clothes wet and tattered, Kisame struggled to his feet once more coughing all the while. Breathing unsteady, he spoke, "You... will pay... for that... BOY!"

In the dry heat of their surroundings, his jutsu certainly was not at its strongest, seeing as how he could still stand, and he couldn't risk wasting any more chakra in the same fashion. Still pissed off, he began speaking furiously, "You made a big mistake yourself giving me all these weapons!" He revealed as he picked up a fuuma shuriken in each hand from the blond's previous attack. Throwing said weapon from his left hand at one of the blonds, he became even more pissed as it missed his first target and was easily caught by a second Naruto, smirking at his opponent.

Becoming easily overwhelmed with anger, the missing nin recieved no calming words from his partner who now had Shino and Kakashi after him. Kisame mistakingly gave into fury as it clouded his once rational mind. Preparing to throw the second shuriken, he recieved odd resistance from the weapon and it was soon spinning out of control as if it had a mind of its own. Already being too close the the very sharp weapon, Kisame had not the time to pull away fast enough as he soon lost his hand to what he thought was a normal weapon.

Obviously unable to hold onto it any longer, the weapon fell to the ground, along with the dismembered hand, and upon contact, transformed into another Naruto, still smirking at his opponent.

Kisame, who's face was caught between horrible pain and fear of defeat, raged on hopelessly only to turn around in surprise as a few other fuuma shurikens transformed into two Narutos, creating the Oodama Rasengan.

In a ditch effort to save his own life, he brought a single handsign to his chest and concentrated the remaining amount of his chakra to his last jutsu.

"Oodama Rasengan!" The fake blonds yelled as it ripped through the upper half of Kirigakure no Sato's number one missing nin, Kisame Hoshigaki, effectively ending his life... for real this time? All the extra Narutos went poof along with Kisame's heartbeat.

"What a drag..." Huffed Shikamaru as his own mind gave into exhaustion.

Sakura watched the battle while attending to Shikamaru who had been stripped of his consciousness by his own technique. She couldn't help but be amazed at how well Naruto pulled off the combo, almost jealous that she hadn't done it before hand and slightly curious as to why Shikamaru hadn't come up with something like that. Though she knew only too well that this was Naruto's fighting style, not Shikamaru's. She was easily impressed by how many sides Naruto could have came at him, each one possibly ending his opponent's life.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Using the chakra sapping abilities of his insects, Shino was able to steal away enough chakra from Itachi Uchiha, forcibly ending the Tsukuyomi genjutsu placed upon Kakashi. Itatchi having being weakened so, Kakashi was the one able to force his way out, causing Itachi to be severely drained even further in the process, but still fit enough for battle. A quick look around told him the whereabouts of his partner.

"Kisame, you fool..."

"Your fight is with us now," said a cocky but slightly tired Naruto.

It was at that moment that a surge of familiar chakra was all around them as a black haired figure came upon the group. So caught off gaurd, the remaining ninja from the fight against Kisame jumped to attention to prepare for yet another battle.

"What did I miss?" Proposed a green spandex clad ninja, exhibiting his own 'good-guy' pose with a small trail of dissipating dust behind him, showing the path he had ran.

"Huh? Bushy-brows, why're you here? We have this under control," asked Naruto.

"Hokage-sama sent me as back up just in case," he answered.

"Gai-sensei was on another mission and Neji and TenTen other matters to attend to," he said in advance to the question that seemed to be on all their minds.

"Not like we needed - HEY!"

"Hmph..." Using this moment of distraction, the Uchiha soon made a retreat with a full chase being given with Naruto's "Hey" only slightly behind, having used two of his previous clones to carry Shikamaru.

It was only a few minutes later when they came upon Itachi not running, but instead reappearing from an underground cave with an unconscious body in tow. Everyone who had yet to see the person let out a gasp. Even Sai, who usually remained quiet, seemed to have his breath caught in his throat for a moment. Kakashi was, perhaps, the only one who noticed that Itachi no longer held the sharingan in his eyes, but also knew there was nothing he could do at the moment with the given situation.

"Is it... genjutsu?" The kunoichi asked disbelievingly, giving her sensei a questioning look.

_Sigh._ "No," came the reply from the greatly exhausted Jounin.

"Let her go!!" Raged the blond with Kyuubi characteristics surfacing.

"A trade... The Jinchuuriki for the girl," Itachi immediately proposed.

"There's no way! As much as I hate to say it, compared to Naruto, she is... expendable," Sakura said with regret.

**"NO!!"** Roared Naruto, kicking a large rock next to him, surely breaking at least one toe in the process but also quelling his anger. "I... I will... I'll do it..." The blond hesitantly agreed.

"What?!" Yelled Sakura in disbelief, sending a powerful fist to his face intent on bringing him back to reality.

Not in the mood for any games, Naruto easily side-stepped the attack and used her forward momentum to send her to the ground. Twisting her ankle in an effort to turn her body around, she managed to land on her back instead of her face. Absolutely dumbfounded, she looked up at the the blond. Wide eyed as she noticed the tears dripping. In the back of her mind, she wondered why Naruto always let her hit him when he could have easily done what he did just now.

"Yes... he suspects it, as do I. Being alone for so many years... he couldn't possibly pass up the chance to save his own _sister,_" the Uchiha put emphasis on the use of the last word to further deepen his mental hold on the blond.

Everyone gasped again, shocked senseless as if the thought never entered their minds. All except for Naruto and Shino.

Silently accepting this, he discretely but quickly dropped his backpack off his back to lay behind the rock and out of sight. "You guys... might need that," he said, referring to his bag. Reluctantly, he took a few steps forward before Sakura piped up again.

"Naruto! You can't do this! It's what they want!" She cried out through fresh tears, watching him slowly walk away from where she sat.

"I'll be ok, Sakura-chan! This way everyone I care about will be safe from harm... No one will have to die on my account again..." He told her in his clearly fake cheery tune and false smile, but even he couldn't keep the sadness out of his words nearing the end of his sentence.

"The flames of youth burn ever brightly for you, Naruto. They shall not be distinguished in vain!" Lee interjected with tears.

"Thanks... Lee."

The Naruto clones set down the Chuunin gently before dispersing. The moment Naruto reached the Uchiha's side, his Mangekyou flared up again from his now bleeding eyes, sending the blond into a state of unconsciousness.

With a new hostage, Itachi dispensed of the blond female by simply dropping her on the ground, now holding her brother's limp form with every chance to kill him if he had to.

"We... we can't..." The kunoichi sobbed as Itachi left the scene with Naruto slumped over his shoulder.

"We don't have a choice, Sakura," a voice answered dryly.

"Wha- Shino! How could you say that?! You of all people!" She retorted, finally picking herself up from the ground, wincing because of her ankle. The rest of the group stayed silent.

"Kakashi...?" She said pleadingly to her sensei, oddly not adding the suffix.

"Let's get her back inside," Kakashi smiply said as he picked up Naruto's bag and slung it over his shoulder and also getting help from his male student to drag a still unconscious Shikamaru while Shino got the girl back underground and Lee offered his support to Sakura who accepted with a weak smile.

Moments later, they were at the bottom of a deep cavern, albeit, nowhere near as deep as the trap Naruto and Shino had fallen into, but deep enough.

Sakura held an air of gloomy sadness over the group as they finally stopped about fifty feet underground where the Akatsuki duo had apparently made their stay.

Almost too abruptly, Kakashi spoke up after he and Sai layed down Shikamaru and dropping his student's bag before them all.

"Mission Success..." He sang out cheerily.

"What?! Kakashi-sensei! How could y-" She tried to say, but Kakashi held his hand up. Though it wasn't his hand that stopped her, it was his suddenly flaring Sharingan that held her tounge.

"With so little chakra left, it was hard to tell at first... Come on out now, Naruto." Everyone, for the third time that hour, let out a disbelieving gasp. Naruto's bag was soon covered in a small cloud of smoke shortly after revealing an exhausted blond, chuckling weakly, rubbing that back of his head.

Removing her arm from around Lee's supportive neck, Sakura gave the blond a playful, but still painful, kick in the ribs for decieving them all and hurt her own ankle even more in the process causing her own whelp of pain to coincide with his. Losing her balance from her playful act of aggression, the pink haired kunoichi tightly shut her eyes expectantly as she prepared herself for the rough landing sure to come before a pair of strong arms enveloped her swiftly, preventing her fall. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring into the big dark eyes of none other than Rock Lee. The sudden feeling of butterflies in her stomache overtook her as a dozen thoughts swam in her head. Becoming flushed, she could no longer hold eye contact.

A moment later and she was hearing Kakashi clear his throat. It was then that she noticed the majority of the group gawking at her while the Jounin kept his cool. She chose that moment to hurriedly break away from Lee, sitting some ways away from him, trying not to make eye contact with any of the group.

Finally speaking to draw attention back to the situation at hand, Kakashi said, "Putting so much chakra into that clone... it's no wonder Itachi fell for it so easily. We should be free of him for a while."

"Actually-" The blond started, partially oblivious to the scene that had just unfolded due to his state of exhaustion.

"Im-Impossible! I saw that clone kick that rock. I _heard_ him break a toe! There's no way a clone could survive a broken bone... of any kind!" She said exasperatedly, remembering the scene that had occured above ground.

"Actually-" He tried again.

"Well his can, apparently," Kaskashi revealed, stealing a glance at his blue ring bound finger but soon stopped anything and everything he was doing as the blond's hands came together to form handsigns. Realization soon dawned on him as the words came out of the blond's mouth.

"Fuuton: Bunshin Bakuhatsu no Jutsu!"

Moment's later, even underground, they could feel the earth rumbling. They stared apprehensively at the walls and ceiling of their temporary safehaven as stress fractures were becoming more and more evident while dust and small pebble-sized debris fell from around them.

Sakura, Shino and, of course, Naruto knew only too well the destruction of that technique from seeing it first hand and with Kakashi and most, if not all others seeing the aftermath.

"With over eighty-five percent of my remaining chakra put into that clone, if that doesn't kill him... I don't know what will," Naruto revealed proudly before suddenly passing out.

The forgotten female was soon heard stirring and shortly after that, speaking.

"Ugh, what the... hell was that?" She said with a fearful shiver, waking up. Looking around, "Where... the hell am I now?" She finished before realizing she was still in the cave, but this time, with several extra people staring at her. All... but one.

* * *

**A/N: **I thought I had this chapter finished but there were a few things I forgot so I spent a couple hours on this chapter making sure the details were right. I was originally gonna pit Naruto up against Itachi, but it wouldn't have worked out with his sharingan seeing through his weapon henge. I know I probably should have made Kisame use more water techniques, but lets just agree that it wasn't the best weather conditions for him. He didn't bring his chapstick. (N.D.)

Anyways, good or bad, whatever the case may be. This was by far the longest and most detailed fight scene in the story so let me know how I did and let me know if there is anything I need to work on. Much appreciated.

**Kage Ridairekushon (Shadow Redirection)** - Uses a large amount of chakra to open up a rift in space and time by utilizing any shadows around the user. The more shadows, the larger and stronger the rift. After the object enters the rift, the user can choose to leave it closed, trapping the object inside until opened up once again, draining even more chakra.

Until Next Time...


	12. Conflict and Discovery

**Chapter Eleven**

**Conflict and Discovery**

"Akamaru is a father!? " Hinata exclaimed as she looked over the black and white pups cuddling their solid black mother slightly resembling that of a wolf.

"Hehe, I know. We were just as surprised as you are. But as it turns out, Akamaru has a girlfriend," Kiba informed with a grin earning an irritated whine from Akamaru.

"Haha, your dog got laid before you did..." Hana blurted out, laughing.

"Shut up woman!" Retorted a flustered Kiba as Hinata giggled at their interaction.

A few more shouts were exchanged between the two before a resounding bark caught their silent attention.

"I think he wants you to shut up..." The veternarian said, pointing at Kiba.

"Look who's talking," he shot back.

"I think it's because you woke the pups?" Hinata interjected carefully, earning the attention of the two Inuzukas.

"S-Sorry," she stuttered, avoiding eye contact.

"No, I think you're right. Let's give them some space," Kiba generously proposed, leading the group outside.

"What now?" Hinata asked.

"Lets go get something to eat," he suggested with a friendly smile.

"... Okay," she agreed a bit hesitantly.

"Where would you-" He began before she suddenly took the lead, taking him by surprise. As they were on their way, he found himself staring at her face, watching her silky hair boiunce in sync with her movements. Before he knew it, they were slowing down.

As the pair came to a stop in front of a small restaurant stand, Kiba could hardly stop himself as he let out a disappointed sigh.

"Why here?" He tried to ask as innocently as possible.

Hinata looked at him curiously for a moment before answering.

"Naruto-kun takes me here alot. I guess it's grown on me," she answered with a smile.

"Is this okay?" She quickly asked, smile faltering.

Holding back his displeasure, he answered, "Yeah it's fine," and he begrudgingly took a seat with her at the ramen stand.

Not sure what to order, he simply stared at the menu awkwardly.

Seeing his state of uncertainty, she decided to help him out.

"The Miso Ramen has become my favorite. Naruto got me hooked on it," she revealed with a dreamy look on her face.

He didn't quite know why, but upon hearing the blond's name yet again, he could felt a slight tinge of anger welling up inside him. As politely as he could muster, he muttered his thanks and ordered the Miso Ramen.

"I'll have the same!" She said somewhat excitedly.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"That was... an explosion," the Jounin answered her question, oblivious to the real reason she asked it.

"Huh?" She blurted out, surprised by the unfamiliar voice and even more surprised by all the faces peering at her.

"What is your name, child?" The Jounin spoke again.

"Mi-Minoru..." She answered, yet to regain her bold composure. "Wait... Child?!" She fumed.

Kakashi suddenly felt a slight headache coming on, not knowing it was induced by the girl. "My apologies."

"Wh-What happened to those... other two?" She asked, now getting a good look around, but unable to see the unconscious ninja through the small crowd.

"Taken care of... by him," the Jounin revealed, stepping aside to allow view of the sleeping blond.

"HIM?! I've seen him... fought him! He took care of those two?! But they were so strong... and there were _two_!" She freaked out with recognition and realization of what level his strength must be at. Finally calming down a minute later, she continued, "Is... is he ok?"

"He'll be fine," the same voice answered while the rest of the group stayed silent. "What about you?"

She seemed to make a visual inspection of herself before answering that she felt fine as well before asking the question that was bugging her.

"Why... is everyone staring at me like that...?"

"Because you two _do_ look so much alike. It's intriguing," a female voice answered.

"Tell us," the masked man started again, "Who are your parents?"

The girl's eyes glazed over in sad recollection. "I never really met them. Supposedly they died the day of my birth."

"And where were you born?"

"Um... As far as I know, I lived here all my life."

"I see." Most of the group seemed to lose the excitment in their eyes at this revelation.

"And your surname?" Kakashi asked, not yet giving up.

"What's with these questions? I don't even know why I'm answering in the first place..."

"You kinda... owe us."

Everyone was startled to hear Shikamaru's lazy voice.

"I don't owe you anything... I owe _him _for taking care of _both_ those cloaked freaks," she replied, nodding in Naruto's direction.

While the other's took this truth calmly, Shikamaru was clearly shocked hearing how Naruto had defeated both Akatsuki members.

"We all had a part in that," Shino spoke up.

"Mostly..." Lee mumbled disheartedly.

"Whatever."

"Well then, young lady. Would you like to at least know the name of your saviour?" Kakashi asked, with a mischevious glint in his eye.

"Ok..." She answered slowly.

"His name is, Naruto... _U-zu-ma-ki_," he stressed the last name, sure to get a reaction, which he did.

"What?! But that's my- uh, I mean..."

Kakashi merely chuckled at this before saying, "Minoru _Uzumaki_, meet your brother, Naruto."

"No way..." She mumbled.

"Yes way. It would certainly explain your similar chakra signatures," Kakashi revealed calmly.

"But a blood test would prove to be much more accurate," stated the medic kunoichi as she tried to apply her medical ninjutsu to her ankle only to find that she exhausted too much chakra during the previous battle with Kisame.

Finally getting her head back on her shoulder, so to speak, the blond female finally regained her senses.

"I should be getting back to my village. I'm sure they are worried," she said as she tried to stand up only to lose her balance and fall back down.

"I think it would be best rest for a bit longer. You have surely suffered from a powerful genjutsu, as well as myself. Besides, we should wait until the dust settles," Kakashi finished.

"Dust?" She asked.

"Remember, I mentioned an explosion? A jutsu from your savior," he answered. She stayed silent, as if deep in thought. Soon, they were all sitting peacefully while Kakashi rested and Naruto snored.

A few hours later, both Kakashi and Naruto had woken and Naruto was buzzing about wildly after confirming he has a sister but since they couldn't decide who was older, they later they decided that Minoru would play the role of the big sister since Naruto couldn't seem to show his maturity at that point.

After having been fed and rested, they were soon walking back the way they came to reach ground level only to find that their route had caved in.

"I'll take care of it!" The pink haired girl limped forward from Lee's support, brandishing her fists.

"No."

They all turned, startled to hear Naruto's command.

"You might cause a cave-in," he reasoned, recalling how too much pressure could lead to destruction in the trap hole he had been a victim of.

Needless to say, everyone, even Kakashi, was surprised to her Naruto say something intellectual. Oblivious to everyone's surprised expressions, he stepped forward to the rock wall that impeeded their path.

Placing both hands to the unsturdy wall, he concentrated all his learnings about wind manipulation and concentrated some of his remaining chakra to his hands. With some difficulty, he managed to begin cutting the rock in a circular motion within the reach of his arms.

"Shikmaru, use your shadow to hold the rock in place and control the wall's collapse," the blond instructed.

"Ugh, fine..." he mumbled as he put his hands together to form the usual handsign. Extending his shadow to cover the majority of the wall, Naruto made the last cuts before stepping away.

"Slowly remove the shadow from the area I cut," he instructed.

As he complied, the cut rock began to fall away, piece by piece. With the rest of the wall slowly losing its structure, it too began to break down as Shikamaru controlled its collapse with his shadow. Several tiresome minutes later, and the majority of the wall had been safely removed and the team was walking through unscathed, for the most part.

"Geez, Naruto. When did you get so smart?" Sakura asked as she landed a playful punch to his should.

"Hehe..." He chuckled as he rubbed his shoulder.

Kakashi too, chuckled at the interaction.

Moments later, they found themselves above ground once again and looked around in awe. As they stared further into the direction Itachi had gone off to, they were amazed as the destruction steadily grew more and more.

"A jutsu did this?!" Minoru asked rhetorically, disbelieving.

"Hehe... Oops," Naruto sounded as he rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

"What now?" Sakura asked as the other male members stayed silent still.

"It won't be long before they send for me. Let's wait here until they arrive."

Everyone, especially the exhausted Naruto and Shikamaru, agreed and decided to stay where they were.

About half an hour later, and they could sense a small number of people closing in on their location. Everyone turned towards the incoming party with expectant faces. It wasn't long before a small ground of Iwa nin arrived at their location.

A short debriefing of the events that transpired took place then and there before a normal conversation started up again.

"So... are you leaving?" Sakura asked dejectedly.

"Please accept my apologies. But I have a duty to my country. I am truely sorry, Naruto-otouto." (Otouto, meaning younger brother.)

His look of dejection soon turned to glee at the use of the suffix, reminding him he now has something truely meaning ful in his life. Family.

"I will write to you, and I will see what I can do about visiting sometime in the near future."

"We will all look forward to that day, Minoru-chan," Sakura replied, happily.

"I believe that concludes this meeting. I will be sure to brief our Tsuchikage-sama on your behalf. Please do not be offended by us not inviting you to our village as our two countries may still not be on the best of terms. I do, however, assure you that all of your acts of heroism to bring back a member of our shinobi population will do us both well to prevent another war and even help with the treaty," the man finished at last. Kakashi assured he understood their reasoning and they bowed to each other respectfully. The group finally left, but not before Minoru gave the unsuspecting Naruto a big sisterly hug and ran off with her comrads waving off to the Konoha group.

"Eh? War? Treaty?" Naruto asked stupidly after getting over his surprise..

"Naruto... did you not even bother to ask Shino of the circumstances in which he went to the Rock Country in the first palce?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh yeah... I forgot," the blond said with a sheepish grin.

Kakashi merely sighed hopelessly. _"Some things never change,"_ he thought.

Several days and a long uneventful trip later, the Konoha group found themselves nearing the gates of their home, Konohagakure.

Though her ankle had long since been healed, Sakura and Lee had hardly moved more than 5 feet away from each other. Once in a while, they would cast nervous glances at each other only to look away when one returned eye contact. Sakura appeared to be alittle more open about her shyness while half the time, Lee seemed rather confused.

_"I must speak to Gai-sensei about this!" _He noted mentally.

Stepping through the archway and past the Chuunin gaurd post of their beloved home, Naruto was the first to run off saying something about 'Hinata' and 'ramen' earning a disappointed sigh from Kakashi shortly followed by an amused chuckle.

Moments later, Maito Gai just so happened to be in the area and only seconds after that, Lee was by his side whispering something to his sensei.

Staring after Lee with curiosity, she watched the interaction before she suddenly heard an utterly displeasing outburst from the loud spandex-clad Jounin.

"That's great Lee! Your first true female interaction. Sakura-san sure is lucky!" He exclaimed clapping the boy on the back as he waved his hands in front of himself in a desperate attempt to silence his sensei. Fear suddenly took over them both as they felt such killing intent emanating from the kunoichi brimming with anger.

Minutes later, two green spandex-clad ninja were left beaten unconscious as Sakura accompanied her sensei to the Hokage tower, still fuming with rage.

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"Kiba!"

_SLAP!!_

"Wh- What the hell?! You act like you're having such great time yet-" He began in defense before something else caught his attention.

"Akamaru... what is it?" He asked the whimpering dog, oddly cowering behind Hinata. It was then that he suddenly felt what his dog had sensed just before him. For the second time that day, it was _fear_!

**"Kiba!"** Came the low, menacing growl from behind him followed by such a killing intent that he had never felt before.

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A few weeks have gone by and Naruto still hasn't fully calmed down about having a sister. He had been anxiously waiting for her letter when he was called to the Hokage Tower.

"What is it, Baa-chan?" He asked before narrowly ducking under a thrown stapler.

"If you call me that one more time, you won't get your letters from your sister!" She yelled, reminding him that any mail from other countries went through her first.

"You... You can't do that!" He retorted desperately.

"Try me..." She sneered.

Naruto hung his head in defeat without saying a word, not wanting to give in any further.

"Ugh, that look really doesn't suite you. Here. Take it," she told him, brandishing an unopened envelope addressed to an _Uzumaki Naruto_.

Said person suddenly shot his head up happily, swiping at the letter in her hands only to miss.

"Huh?"

"One more thing... You might be interested to know that Kiba is getting out of the hospital today," she revealed.

An odd silence hung over the blond before he muttered the words, "He deserved it..."

"I don't care what he deserved! You do not put my able-bodied shinobi into the hospital without proper reasoning!" She yelled, slamming her fists on her desk as she stood up. "And kissing your girlfriend is not good enough!"

"Ahem!" She cleared her throat, calming herself at once and returning to her seat.

"What about... the other thing?" He asked carefully.

"It's been taken care of, though he was unaware of the Third's decree. Anyways, though he is now clear to return home, he is still unfit for missions. Therefore, you will _continue_ to complete his missions as well as your own and his 'would-be' mission payments will also continue to go to him rather than yourself. Understood?"

"Yes..."

"Yes - what?" She pushed.

"Yes, Tsunade... sama," he cringed.

"That's better. You are dismissed," she commanded as she dropped his letter before him. She couldn't help but feel at least alittle guilty.

Hesitantly, he reached for the letter before taking it up in his hands and walking to the doorway in silence.

"Thanks, Tsunade... _baa-chan!_" He said the last part just as he slipped out of view before she could break another stapler on his head. He forced a smile as he heard the familiar screams of 'Don't call me that!' and the familiar _thud_ sound as another thrown object had surely imbedded itself in the wall.

All previous feelings of guilt were now gone.

It wasn't long before he was racing through the streets of Konoha, racing against the storm clouds looming overhead. A few minutes later, he was home staring at the still unopened letter in his hand. Badly wanting to tear the envelope to shreds to get at the paper within, he forced himself to open the letter neatly with suppressed excitement and shaky hands. Unfolding the parchment within, his eyes automatically skimmed the length of the letter and couldn't help but frown at how short it was. Finally, he started to read.

_Dear baby brother, or should I say, 'older brother'? That's right. As it turns out, you were born just before I was. We're twins! But I'm sure we both already knew that. I have talked things over with my caretaker, Rin. After I told her what happened, she practically freaked out that a certain someone was still alive. Since then, she has explained many things to me and there are a few things you should definately know. It is much too important to tell you in a letter, so just as I said I would, we're coming to visit! But Rin has asked you not to tell anyone, but she is coming as well. She wants it to be a surprise. We should be there in a few days time, so be prepared, cuz' I want to see how strong you really are. Take care!_

_Sincerely, your little sister,_

_Minoru Uzumaki._

After reading the short letter several times over and after he was finally done whooping with happiness, he recieved an unheard knock at the door just as a thought struck him. The letter was dated two days ago... Does that mean they would show up today? Or a few days from now? Suddenly he was caught off guard as a pair of arms had enveloped his body. Looking for the source, he became even happier, if that was even possible.

"Hinata-hime? I didn't even hear you come in..."

Still not able to keep from blushing at the use of her nickname, she smiled up happily at Naruto. "Sorry, Naruto-kun. I knocked but you didn't answer, so I thought I would surprise you," she explained, now stutter free.

"And a wonderful surprise it was," he told her. Upon hearing the familiar splatter sound against the window pane, he turned his gaze to the window and gave a disappointed frown. "We were supposed to go out today..."

"It's ok. I'd rather stay here with you," she told him happily before attacking his lips with her own which would inevitably start a make out session like it did on a few previous occasions since he returned.

"What's wrong, Naruto-kun?" She asked, pulling away after he stopped returning her kisses.

"I really don't deserve you. The last few weeks have been really tough on us..."

_"Do you know why Naruto is such an outcast, Hinata? I bet you don't."_

_"What are you talking about, Kiba?"_

_"I overheard my parents talking about it one day. I never wanted to believe it..."_

_**"Kiba!!"**_

_"The Fourth Hokage never killed the Nine-Taled Demon Fox, he sealed it inside Naruto! He is the Demon!" Hollared the misguided boy._

_"Wh- What? N-No, that's- That's not possible... It- It was-" The poor frightened girl stuttered before witnessing such a harsh thrashing on Kiba._

_--_

_"I'm sorry, Hinata-hime. I screwed up. I know that. I scared the hell out of you and I didn't mean to. Please, talk to me," he pleaded._

_These words held a silence over the Hyuuga for a brief moment._

_"It's true. I was scared. But I realize why you did what you did. I'm lucky to have someone who cares about me so much. As much as that part of you frightens me, it just can't ignore how I feel about you... Just promise me one thing..."_

_"Anything."_

_"Never use that power on our allies again."_

"Naruto-kun?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just... remembering."

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_**Early Next Morning**_

Wanting to get an early start before the team met up with Kakashi-sensei, Naruto decided he'd get in a few hours of training first. Making a few clones, he decided to fight himself for a warm up. After a ten minute sparring session with his clones, he was ready to start the tough stuff.

_Buzz_

Naruto smiled.

**"As you have noticed kid, she's here."**

Pretending as if he hadn't noticed, he ressumed his training until she finally decided to show herself.

"It's no fun if you already know I'm here," she called out.

"I guess I couldn't hide it," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "How do you do that?"

"A rare Kekkei Genkai I inherited from our mother. Apparently, only the female can inherit it."

Naruto's eyes lit up at the mention of their mother which, for a reason soon to be explained, made Minoru depressed. She answered his question before it came out of his mouth.

"She died... a long time ago, protecting me... Being the daughter of Konohagakure's Fourth Hokage, they thought my body would have inherited his _Shunshin no Jutsu _which they stupidly thought was a Kekkai Genkai."

Seeing the strange look she was recieving from her brother, she quickly changed the subject, "I have already spoken with Hokage-sama. She know's I'm here." This seemed to help him relax alittle but still became very depressed in learning that his mother was long since deceased. Naruto silently teared up but was soon distracted as another voice came into the mix..

"You demon brat! Did you think you could get away with this?! I will not allow you to taint my daughter nor that of any other Hyuuga with your filth!"

"No Father! Please!" Pleaded a desperate Hinata.

"I told you to wait at the manor!" He spat back, cocking his arm back to backhand her. Mysteriously, after a shout from Minoru, he could not move his hand. Shocked as to why he had no control over his own movements, he dismissed the fact that he soon regained them.

"What is the meaning of this?!" He yelled furiously as Naruto had suddenly made his move between the two Hyuugas.

"You will not touch her!"

"Likewise!" Hiashi yelled back, yet to regain his composure. "Hinata, you are forbidden from seeing this boy!" He yelled at her over the blond's shoulder.

When this should have horrified the young girl, instead it made her give off an unnerving smile. "Actually, _Father_. Hyuuga law states that if you disagree with my choice of a husband canidate, your decision may be disputed."

Slightly taken aback by her usage of the Hyuuga political system against him, he came back with what he thought was a perfect comeback. "Yes, my daughter, but have you forgotten the mannor of which that dispute entails?"

The answer to that particular question seemed to have escaped her. Seeing this, her father proceeded to answer for her.

"It entails, that in order to overturn my decision, an Uzumaki family member of yours or his choice must partake in a battle with a Hyuuga family member of my choice and come out victorious to prove his family worthy of being conjoined with a Hyuuga's. And I choose myself. What do you decide?" He asked as he looked down upon his now horrified daughter, trembling with indecision. She looked between the two Uzumakis.

"Let me do it," Minoru whispered to her brother. She continued with her reasoning before he objected, "I came here prepared to fight you, but I think I'd rather take care of this scumbag instead. Trust me..." Looking into her confident blue eyes, he nodded in compliance.

"She will fight," Naruto decided, surprising both Hyuugas.

"No. It must be an Uzumaki only, and since you are-"

"-Not the only Uzumaki here, my sister, Uzumaki Minoru will fight in my stead... and kick your ass," he interjected heatedly.

Hiashi was clearly taken aback by this but Naruto prepared his comeback before Hiashi could even speak up.

"Tsunade already knows. Would you like me to get her to prove it?" He said, for once not calling her 'old' in the process.

"That won't be neccessary. Let us begin," he agreed confidently.

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Just like every morning before, a certain masked Jounin was busy getting lost on the 'road of life' when he made a startling discovery.

"Who would dare deface the grave marker of my honored teammate?!" He spat out furiously as he looked upon the space where a name once was.

"I would," came the answer, causing Kakashi to spin around in disbelief at the sound of the voice. "But since I'm not dead, I do not see the reason why my name should be there," she reasoned.

"Impossible!" Kakashi blurted out, brandishing his sharingan to make sure he wasn't being decieved by genjutsu. "It's... really you."

* * *

**A/N: **I really hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter. I added alot.

Until Next Time...


	13. Past and Present, Answers Revealed

**Chapter Twelve**

**Past and Present, Answers Revealed**

"It all makes sense now. Minoru being in the Earth Country. The other voice in Naruto's dreams. That Kekkai Genkai. I didn't want to believe it... Didn't want to get my hopes up... But it really is you... Rin."

"Dreams, huh? Well, at the time I didn't know she still had a blood bond somewhere out here, otherwise, I would have had to worry about the subconscious connection between the two. Her Kekkai Genkai was barely waking up so her unconscious mind was unstable, therefore sharing a link between her and her brother. I had my suspicions when she mentioned something about 'wierd dreams'..."

"Why... why did you leave us... leave me?" He changed the subject, showing a bit of emotion.

"Wow, this is so not like you, Kakashi-kun. You're not going to cry, are you?" She asked sarcastically, with a wink.

Clearing his throat and regaining his composure, he assured her he was not going to cry.

"Well your Hokage sure has a wicked sense of humor. She told me to go fetch you and my Minoru."

Kakashi agreed with a deep chuckle.

"I'll meet you back at the Tower. I have to find Minoru-chan."

He nodded and they went their separate ways.

Moments later, she felt a familiar chakra spike and rushed to its location.

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"Byakugan!"

"Seishin Manako! Sanposeishin no Jutsu!"

"Whatever that is, it won't help you," Hiashi stated coldly. Hinata immediately recalled how her cousin had acted much the same way before he lost to her.

Minoru waited calmly for Hiashi to make the first strike. _"Palm thrust... high jab..." _She predicted.

Not really losing his patience, but instead merely wanting to get started, he moved in starting with a palm thrust. She sidestepped to his right, easily avoiding his strike and landing a left punch to his ribs. Aggitated, he retaliated with a high jab aimed just under her left collar bone. Another miss as she ducked under it landing a kick to the soft spot behind his left knee causing him to briefly go down on that knee.

Placing her forefinger and index fingers of both hands to her temples for heavy concentration she barely whispered the words of her jutsu, "Etoku Shihai no Jutsu!" (Perception Control Technique)

Furious, he stood back up, staring her down. Looking into her face, he saw in her what he was lacking. Tranquility. Peace. She was calm and focused. He was impatient and rushed.

He then forced himself to control his breathing. With renewed determination, he charged back in at new speeds harder for her to keep up with. Every move she predicted, he was already executing putting her on the defensive. His swift attacks were faster than her reflexes and finally, he caught up to her. Not giving her a chance to escape, he gave her no mercy as he performed the powerful _Shugo Hakke Rokujuuyonshou._

"Two palms!"

"Four palms!"

"Eight palms!"

"Sixteen palms!"

"Thirty-two palms!"

"Sixty-four palms!"

Upon seeing his blonde opponent stumble to the floor in defeat, he started to speak. "The battle is over. It looks like I win this despute."

"That was quite a display... but looks aren't everything," said the female voice.

Whipping around to see his opponent still standing and not hurt in the least, his jaw dropped, dumbfounded. Turning back around, like Naruto had once done back in the Earth Country, he found that his beaten opponent was no longer there.

"By the way... who _were_ you attacking just now? I 'm pretty sure nobody was there," Minoru revealed in a innocent mocking way.

"How dare you mock me!" He flared, charging her once more.

"Seishin-Dageki no Jutsu!" With a blink of her eye, Hiashi's knee buckled beneath him midstep, or at least it would have. As much as anybody would not like to admit it, Hiashi had quite a powerful hardened mind. Focused sternly on his goal, Minoru's jutsu was not quite as powerful on him as it was meant to be. Though her jutsu did make him stumble just a bit, he quickly corrected his stance and his aim was true.

Quickly seeing her failed attempt to hinder the man, all she could do within the time alotted was barely roll the attack off her left shoulder, leaving it partially numb due to the lack of chakra running through as per the effects of the Jyuuken styled taijutsu.

Staring off at each other, preparing for their next moves, Hiashi took a moment to calm himself. Briefly closing his eyes, he took a deep calming breath. For a moment, his eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion before his facial expression changed back to his usual smirk.

_"Shit!" _She thought. _"Open your eyes!"_

Just as the thought entered her mind, his eyes flashed open and his Byakugan flared powerfully as the protruding veins bulged menacingly. Wasting no time, he charged in smooth and low.

_"Shit, he's fast. Not enough time to prepare against all of his moves... but perhaps I can..."_

"I figured you out! Even if you know what I'm going to do..."

_"What?!"_

"...you aren't fast enough to stop me now!"

With that said, he went with a low gut wrenching jab, striking dead-on. This caused Minoru to buckle over slightly, coughing up some blood. Next was a high jab aiming for her heart. Everyone watching held their breath, unable to speak.

What happened next, happened so fast, untrained eyes may not have seen it too clearly.

Using the upward strike to her advantage, she quickly forced herself into motion. Watching carefully as the strike came rushing at her, her hands sprang forward. Grabbing the incomming wrist with both hands, she twisted and turned and using the man's forward momentum, she flipped him over her back and onto his, knocking the wind out of him and kicking up some dust in the process. Everyone but Minoru watched as Hiashi writhed about, gasping for air before the girl took this moment to disable the man with her jutsu. Creating a clone, it turned him over onto his stomache and pinned his arms behind his back.

The real Minoru wiped the small trickle of blood from her mouth and started to speak.

"I may not have had enough time to fend off your first strike, but I had plent of time to prepare for your second." Bending down low to make better eye contact, she continued, "If I really wanted to, I could kill you right now, or I could sever the optic nerve in your eyes, blinding you permanently..."

At this, the Hyuuga clan head became wide-eyed and managed a small struggle.

"But be thankful I am not so cruel as too completely take away your sight."

"Completely?" He repeated apprehensively in a rasping voice. She smirked.

"A man such as yourself does not deserve the ability in which you have been born with. You take it for granted and use it to induce fear into others. In the end, you managed to combat against my technique, but not soon enough. Since you are unable to put it to proper use..." She took a moment to give the young Hyuuga a thoughtful glance, "Until I see fit, you will no longer have control of your own Byakugan!" She revealed as she delved deep into his mind and with severe concentration, removed not the actual doujutsu itself, but the ability to activate it.

The effects of the action she just took proved itself accurate as the protruding veins around his eyes returned to normal. The helpless man tried to reactivate his doujutsu, but to no avail. He soon sunk low enough to scream and beg at the now faint girl who took her own abilites alittle too far.

"Minoru-chan! You know better than to try something like that! You are far too inexperienced for something of that magnitude. Look at you now!" Rin panicked after she saw what she had done, having witnessed most of the fight. She wiped away the new blood from her nose and the sweat off her brow.

"You won't get away with this, girl! As the esteemed Clan Head of the Hyuuga name, I'll have you in chains for this!" He yelled after her as she was taken away by her caretaker. Saying this, however, put a thought into the young Hyuuga's head.

"How pathetic Tou-san. To think that I wanted to prove myself to you..." After saying this, a memory of her younger years popped into her head. A memory of when her father actually took the time to teach her the ways of the Hyuuga. A 'proper' use of his doujutsu. She was soon 'schooling' her father on the very subject in which he had taught her many years ago.

"Without a powerful enough Byakugan, or any Byakugan for that matter, Tou-san, you are no longer qualified to be Clan Head. As Clan Heir, I will inform the Counsel of these events and surely, you will be stripped of your title for it to be bestowed upon the next rightful heir, myself. Though of course, I will not be able to take the position until my eighteenth birthday. You will live your life as a servent to the very branch members you despise."

This time is was Naruto that became a bit apprehensive of his girlfriend, rather than her of him.

Hiashi was stunned speechless. "To be overthrown by my own daughter... not bad." His feelings were conflicted between anger and pride for his daughter. "Such politcal potential... It appears I do not need to witness your true strength in battle. The sparring session we had not long ago showed me what you were capable of. _Had you been at full strength then, the wound you inflicted upon me may have been enough to turn the fight in your favor. You might have won..." _He continued in his head, not yet ready to admit to defeat out loud.

"Neglecting your training has actually made you stronger. Independent when neccessary. I trust you will be a strong leader," he said regretfully, unable to make eye contact. "But make no mistake. Make a mistake and we will be back where we started."

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After being briefed on the events of that morning, Tsunade decided it be best if their discussion wait until that night while the fatigued Minoru regained her strength.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Hinata enjoyed their most carefree date ever, no longer having to hide themselves from prying eyes.

Later that night, Naruto was called back into the Hokage's office.

"What is it this time, Baa-chan?" He asked before ducking habitually, expecting a thrown object. Strangely enough, she made no response to this. To not get any sort of reaction, the blond knucklehead was smart enough to figure out something was up so he cautiously took a seat, keeping an eye on the Hokage for any quick movements.

"The rest of you, come in," she commanded just before Jaraiya, Kakashi, Rin, and his newfound sister, Minoru strode through the doorway. "Tonight, all our questions will be answered. Without wasting anytime..." looking over to the blonde female, she said, "Do it."

With a slow nod, she complied. Gathering almost all of her chakra, she called upon her special Kekkei Genkai, "Seishin Manako!" A moment later she was clutching Rin's hand saying, "Etoku Shihai no Jutsu!" (Perception Control Technique - Higher form of genjutsu)

They all stared around in wonder as the view before them disolved into blackness before another view melted into place. They were in a room... a hospital room. They looked around to inspect the people around them, facts not yet sinking in. Suddenly, all eyes were on a person in the door way as the figure came into view.

_Namikaze Minato!_

Though they could no longer see any of the group that was watching this scene, they could all hear an audible gasp coming from Naruto as he recognized both of his parents and his own self as a baby in the arms of his mother.

"Minato-kun? What are you doing back here?" Said the beautiful redhead, laying in the hospital bed with a blond baby boy in hand. She looked exhausted, excited, and for some reason, terrified at the same time. But she covered up that look on her face the moment _he_ stepped in, allowing the figure of a young masked Jounin to come into view in the hallway.

There was a dark haired kunoichi sitting next to her bed.

Looking worried, happy, and ashamed all at once from getting to see his newborn son for the first time, he said, "I'm sorry I had to leave just after he was born, but I just wanted to hold my son before I go back into battle."

Kushina suddenly had an excited look on her face as she remembered something that she needed to tell him. "Oh! Dear, I have something to tell-" She started to say, looking estatic and worried at the same time.

Minato interrupted her, "Can I hold him?"

"Of course!" She replied, "But there's-"

"There's something I must do... or else there will be no way to save the village... no home for our child... for anyone," he told her sadly as he picked up the child and held him in his arms.

Kushina started to look worried and she set her mind aside to listen to her loving husband.

A rumbling noise could be heard outside, far in the distance, and with it, came the slight vibrations that ran through the ground.

"You may never be able to forgive me..." He started walking to the door with child in hand, "...but it's the only way." He stopped at the doorway and looked at his wife, sadness in his eyes.

Kushina started to panic, "Why are you talking like this? Why are you talking as if you won't return?!"

Minato gave her a look. A look that told her everything. He wasn't returning... not alive.

As hard as she tried, she stood no chance against her tears. They poured forth from her eyes the moment she read his face.

"D-Don't go..." She begged, sobbing.

"I have to... I'm sorry." He looked at her sincerely with sad blue eyes and said, "When all of this is over with, Naruto will be a Hero... He will save us all."

Kushina became very wide eyed and began to panic more. "What are you-"

In a flash, he was at her side again. He cut her off with one last passionate kiss.

She wasn't sure what was happening. Fear was clouding her mind.

Kushina was quiet, as was the kunoichi sitting next to her. The dark haired woman stared at the man in the doorway as if looking for answers but the words were caught in her throat. Words being held away from her by panic and fear.

"I love you, my dear Kushina." He turned his gaze from his wife to the woman sitting next to her. "Goodbye my beloved student... Rin."

"Min... ato... sensei..." Was all she could muster. And he was gone.

Kushina stared after him, speechless. She could have sworn that there were tears in his eyes... he was crying.

Moments later a doctor came in the room looking very relieved. "Good news, Kushina-san! You're daughter is out of the danger zone. All complications have been resolved-" He stopped at the unspeakable faces of the two women in the room. "Where is the firstborn...Your son?"

Tears were silently streaming from the eyes of both women who couldn't utter a word. They hadn't even noticed that the doctor was carrying a sleeping baby blonde girl.

Twenty minutes later and the room was empty again, aside from the two women, heartbroken. Kushina was now holding another child... Her daughter. Naruto's twin.

A few minutes went by that felt like forever.

Rin finally stood up to stare out the room's window which was situated in the back of the hospital. She gasped at the sight she saw. The group that technically wasn't really there gasped as well after seeing what she saw. She could see the entire body over the wall that surrounds their village, she couldsee the long ears and snarling white teeth. She could see the nine tales of the beast slashing and whiping around in mid-air. The tips of a few of the tails were curled around the trunks of a few de-rooted tress. Releasing them at high velocity, several at a time, some embedding themselves in the protective wall surrounding the village while some made it as far as inside the village walls itself while others were crashing into buildings around her.

Horrified, she watched as one tree had made it quite far. She watched as it came closer, getting bigger in size every second. Though it was still an easy mile away, maybe two, being the accomplished kunoichi she was, she could deduce that it was heading straight for the room in which they occupied. Acting on instinct, but mostly fear, she sprinted back to the bed on which her friend and baby stayed.

"Can you walk?!" She blurted out, horror evident in her features.

"What's going on?!" She practically screamed, waking the child.

"We need to move! Now!" She replied, wasting no time to help her out of bed.

They were barely at the doorway when the horrible crashing sound was all around them. Debris was everywhere as the top floor above them came crumbling down. Screams erupted as the baby wailed, terrified of her surroundings.

They looked up in horror as they watched helplessly as the ceiling above them started to give way. Rin threw herself on Kushina in hope of protecting her and her child. She could hear the ceiling finally dislodge itself from where it always stayed. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable truth. But when a crushing death did not come, she opened her eyes to look up through the dust to see that the piece of ceiling, which she was sure to bring them death, was only halted by strong branches of the very tree that almost killed them. She let out a sigh of relief, albeit, too soon. She could only listen and watch as the branches that saved them started creaking and cracking under the weight. She couldn't help but scream as the branch gave way, cracking at its base though only bending to allow the tip of it to meet the ground. Immediately after, she could hear the the large stone piece of the ceiling sliding down the branch. She shut her eyes tightly thinking it was the end.

Scuffling feet could be heard next. "Wait... I'm still 'hearing' ?" She asked herself, expecting to be dead. She could hear muffled voices but she couldn't make anything out. She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings through the settling dust. The branch that had given way, provided the stone slab a path to take, deflecting its original path to make the two kunoichi and baby a permanent part of their surroundings.

Coughing but still conscious, she was helped to her feet before the doctors, nurses, and medic-nin continued on their way to rescue any others.

"We have to leave here. It's not safe," Rin decided. She offered a hand to her friend who was now sitting against the wall with her baby who was still crying. Kushina made an effort to get to her feet but soon fell back down against the wall, dipping into unconsciousness.

With a sigh, she concluded, "The stress was too much for you..." And with that, she made two clones to support Kushina and took the baby into her own arms. They set off, away from the disaster.

Many minutes later and they were now on the opposite end of the village, they stopped and rested on a tall building. Kushina stirred and woke with a start.

"My baby...!"

"Is right here," she informed, handing the child over.

Relieved, she took her child gratefully.

They then stared off towards the Demon Fox... to where the Yondaime Hokage would be. They could see a giant toad, Gamabunta, and a _very_ small figure on its head. The monster could be seen in front of it, bearing its fangs and whipping tails, roaring its battle cry. Soon after, a bright blinding light could be seen. And the Demon Fox was no where to be seen.

Kushina gasped as she, with limited knowledge of her husband's sealing techniques, could only deduce one thing...

_"He will save us all. Naruto will be a Hero."_

She whispered to herself, just barely loud enough for Rin to hear, voice quivering, "With his life... he has saved us all... Naruto... is a hero," she said sadly, no longer able to contain herself, she burst into tears.

In a slightly louder voice than her friend, Rin continued for her, "Minato sacrificed themselves... to save us all."

_"You may never be able to forgive me..."_

"Lets go," Kushina said after a while, still visibly crying, "There's nothing left for me here."

"So you just left?!" Naruto screamed as the view returned to the Hokage's office. Not sure of what he was feeling, he continued. "For over sixteen years I had no family! I had to make one! I had to choose my family! No kid should have to _choose _who his family should be!"

"I had no idea you were still alive! I thought... I thought you died with him that night! I thought we had nothing left for us in that village. Everyone else I cared about died!"

Naruto was taken aback. Speechless at Rin's retaliation. But then he finally spoke up, "Obviously not everyone... as you can see, Kakashi is still alive... and kicking."

After a long silence, Rin continued, now sounding ashamed at their decision, but still trying to make it right, if only a little. "Sure, I should have checked later, but she wanted to leave... to take her daughter away from the place that she thought would surely be her downfall. Instead, we were ambushed by men who sought the Kyuubi's attack as a perfect time to infiltrate. I was incapacitated, helpless to watch as my last friend died protecting me and her child."

Something in her words made him shiver uncontrollably for some reason. With the help of Minoru's ability, the images were soon changing again in their heads. They were now in the forest, far from Konoha and with the Rin of the past. Bruised and battered, she was pinned down by a big, bald, and scarred muscular man. The evidence of their struggle showed itself as a few of the unknown shinobi around them layed in the grasses, sprawled out motionless, lifeless.

"You shall not touch her!"

Violent winds were forming as a result of the woman's natural affinity for wind manipuation.

"She has such great potential. We must aquire her for our own purposes," said an unknown voice.

"I won't let you!!" She screamed over the sound of the wind. The woman's hands were forming handsigns and was soon screaming the name of her powerful Kekkei Genkai. Seeing her make her last stance, a few had thrown their kunai at her from all sides. Soon after, ignoring the blinding pain where the sharp weapons made contact, she was yelling _'Seishin-Dageki no Jutsu' _and all ten men around them were clutching their chests as the unstoppable cardiac arrest had them screaming in pain as their hearts burst. All the while, Kushina Uzumaki was screaming in pain, blood coming from both nostrils, eyes, and ears as she forced her mind far past its own ability in an effort to stop the enemy from taking her last child.

Rin could only watch in horror as her last friend died, falling to the grassy crimson floor along with her enemies. With only seconds to spare, she pushed the dead man off her and rushed to her friend's side. The baby was unharmed, still in her arms. Kushina smiled weakly and with her last breath she whispered, "Keep her safe... Protect... Minoru..."

The entire seen turned black again and the group soon found themselves back in Tsunade's office with Minoru barely conscious from extending her ability to five minds at once, including herself.

Naruto was sobbing, having to witness the scene which he clearly did not want to see of his mother's death.

"That seems to explain everything," Tsunade concluded sadly. "You left because you thought all those important to you died... I would not neccessarily call that abandoning your village if you thought your village was destroyed," she voiced her opinion with a wink, though still very disturbed by the images. "I do not know how the counsel will take this, but I am sure I can convince them that having a shinobi of Konoha along with an Iwa shinobi who is blood related one of our own shinobi could surely help with international relations."

...

"If there are no questions, you are all dismissed. Rin, Minoru, you are welcome to stay in my personal quarters until we get you a more suitable place to stay in the morning."

"I do have a question, actually," said Rin. "If Naruto here wasn't sacrificed, whatever happened to that fox?"

There was a moment of silence before Naruto reluctantly spoke up. "It was... sealed inside me."

The two girls let out a gasp and stared at Naruto in wonder but it didn't take long for them to get over the ordeal.

* * *

**A/N: **Hope you liked this chapter. I extended the Minoru vs Hiashi fight so Hiashi actually had a fighting chance. The next chapter MIGHT be the last. There are still a few things I would like to wrap up and some ideas I would like to instill to keep you guys wanting more... maybe. Please review.

**Etoku Shihai no Jutsu - (Perception Control Technique)** - Using the abilities granted by her Kekkei Genkai, Minoru has created a higher form of genjutsu that is merely harder to dispel and harder to recognize as a genjutsu.

As Minoru was displaying the past events to the group, I basically told you guys that the above jutsu was a higher form of genjutsu in the parenthesis so you wouldn't get confused, not knowing what she was doing. But I didn't want to tell you that in her fight with Hiashi cuz' I didn't want to give anything away. I hope it wasn't distracting.

Until Next Time...


	14. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Needless to say, the next few days were rather awkward with Naruto having his sister around as well as having a girlfriend that is no longer just the clan heir of the Hyuuga, but the definate furture Clan Head.

_Sigh._ "I don't know if I'll be able to handle it..." Hinata said forlornly.

"What?! You gotta be kidding me, Hinata-chan! You're gonna be a great Clan Leader; and someday, with me as Hokage, we'll rule Konoha together!" The exuberant blond exclaimed loudy.

_Hehe. _"The Hokage doesn't technically _rule_ over the village, but governs and protects it, Naru-kun," she politely corrects him.

"Yeah... well you know what I mean," he replied sheepishly.

She agreed with a nod. "But there is one problem..."

"Problem? What's that?"

Hinata explained to him that she could not become Clan Head without a husband. This, of course, made Naruto alittle nervous at the implication.

"H-Husband?"

_"Actually, Father. Hyuuga law states that if you disagree with my choice of a husband canidate, your decision may be disputed." _He recalled a couple days back. "Oh yeah..."

Surprised by his sudden change in attitude, she tried to fix the situation.

"Ah! D-Don't be afraid, Naruto-kun. That's still two years away... There's still plenty of time for you to decide whether or not you want to marry me..." She said somewhat remorsefully.

"Wha- What's there to decide?! I just never thought I'd be lucky enough to-" With enough said, he was cut off by a deep, passionate kiss from his future wife.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Hey Minny-chan. Lets grab a bite to eat," Kiba offered for the umpteenth time.

"I'm getting tired of telling you to stop calling me that... and for the last time, no!" She responded, annoyed.

Moments later, everyone had a laugh when Kiba was introduced to Minoru's special talents, making him think he was a dog, doing doggy stuff like trying to chase his imaginary tail and... other embarrassing things that would preferred not to be mentioned.

Within the time in which she stayed at Konoha, Naruto and Minoru would have a few sparring sessions before Minoru took her brother by surprise with a few pointers from Sakura. Minoru had been forced into looking into other fighting alternatives as her few recent dangerous battles showed her that her Kekkei Genkai wasn't always very reliable. She decided her Kekkei Genkai would be best used as her trump card in dangerous situations.

It wasn't long before Kakashi took an interest in her to find out what her nature element was. No surprise to him or Naruto, it was wind as well, though Naruto clearly showed his excitement in the matter. Soon after that, they were practicing new wind jutsus together before she had to return to the Earth Country until her next visit. Maybe someday, she would officially live in Konoha, but only time would tell. After good practice, she would become quite a threat to her enemies even without her special abilities. Using her ever improving chakra control to cause some Tsunade-like crators mixed with slicing winds would prove difficult to handle.

After a tiring day of sparring practice, the duo met up with Hinata and her teammate Shino. The four of them decided to go to the local dango restaurant with surprisingly little resistance from Naruto. As they seated themselves at a nearby table, Hinata pointed out a few familiar faces. Just as Naruto was about to yell his greeting, Minoru slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Leave them be. They seem to be enjoying themselves," she advised with a sweet smile in the direction of Kakashi and her caretaker, Rin.

Minoru watched briefly as Rin appeared to be enoying a nice conversation judging by her smile and dreamy eyes. Kakashi must have said something funny for Rin started giggling. For a moment, Rin's eyes made contact with her own and she immediately began blushing as she looked away. Minoru chose that moment to do the same as she turned her attention back to her own table, a sweet smile playing accross her lips.

_"Good for you," _she thought.

It wasn't long after that in which they recieved their orders and casually talked amongst themselves as they ate. Minoru and Shino watched as Hinata and Naruto fed each other alittle dango, once in a while, a few muffled giggles would come from Hinata.

Minoru look to Shino who seemed to be entranced by the show.

"Not feeling left out, are you?" She asked him with a playful nudge from her elbow.

Shino merely cleared his throat softly but otherwise said nothing, causing her to raise a suspicious eyebrow.

Finally, when it was time for them to leave, the males of the group respectfully paid the bill and they were out the door. During a talkative walk home, they were interrupted by an approaching Kiba who appeared to have spent many hours training with his dog.

Seeing the group of four having such a great time without him, the words left his mouth before he could stop himself.

"What? Stealing Hinata from me wasn't enough, you had to take Shino too?" He said snidely but almost surprised that the words escaped him.

Just as an angry Naruto opened his mouth to speak, he was cut off.

"I suggest you keep that trap shut, unless you feel like playing fetch this time," the blonde female warned leaving Kiba to gape like a fish before suddenly snapping his mouth shut.

Without waiting for a response, the group moved on with Naruto looking proud to be related to her.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

At last, after only a week, the moment of departure was upon them.

In their short time together, Kakashi and Rin got along pretty well, talking about the past, though avoiding a certain subject. Rin caught the Jounin off gaurd by bringing up the possible 'future' leaving him blushing and stuttering on the topic. Rin laughed at his discomfort and in the midst of his confusion, pulled his mask down to give him a peck on the lips before he hurriedly pulled it back up, blushing madly before turning to face the group.

Naruto was voicing his displeasure along the lines of "I can't believe I missed that!" while Kakashi expertly hid his embarrassment behind his deep chuckle. Sakura cooed at Kakashi's romantic moment while Shikamaru noted how troublesome it was and as usual, Shino stayed quiet next to Naruto and Hinata. Gai, who seemed to have popped up out of nowhere, went off with something about romance rivalry while Lee gave Kakashi the 'good guy' pose before a thought struck him. Looking back and forth from Kakashi and Rin to Sakura, he slowly began to smile with a hint of a blush.

Seeing this, Sakura said, "Don't even think about it!" But when no one was looking, she too, let out a thoughtful smile of her own.

Understandably, Kiba stayed in the background and out of Minoru's way.

After many 'goodbyes' the kunoichi duo finally left.

It took quite awhile before things went back to normal... somewhat. Naruto was constantly asking to go to the Earth Country while getting an equal amount of 'No's' from Tsunade. After a while, he finally got permission to send a clone to spend time with his sister for him under the guise that it could help with the treaty negotiations. It wasn't as good for Naruto, but after the clone made it to the Earth Country, he was recieving updates every night. Once in a while, Naruto would do something stupid and get his clone destroyed by Minoru, effectively giving her a couple days off from her blond brother.

Back in Konoha, Naruto was leading a great life with his Hyuuga girlfriend though he never made it past 'second base', at least _'not until marriage'_ she told him.

Once in a while, Naruto would join Hinata at the Hyuuga compound to help her with her training or just to hang out. Every time that he was there, he always saw Hiashi out of the way, focused on his meditation. Once in a while, he could feel Hiashi's chakra spike but the feeling was gone as soon as it appeared.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"You have failed yet again," informed a deep authorative voice.

"My apologies. It will not happen again," another voice replied.

"No... It will not. For if it does, you better not come back alive, or I shall kill you myself!"

"Of course, Pain-sama."

* * *

**A/N: **Well that is the end of _Part Two_. If I forgot to input anything into this last chapter, please, let me know and I will do my best to fix it.

Give me some time to put a decent plot together for _Part Three_. As of right now, I don't see it being very long, but we'll see.

Possible Part Three Summary: Sasuke is pissed because Naruto took away his chance for revenge. When Naruto is confronted by Sasuke, what will the Akatsuki do to prevent their Jinchuuriki from being taken from them? What danger lies in wait for the Hyuuga heiress?

I certainly hope you guys enjoyed my work. I put alot of time into it. Keep an eye out for more stories of mine as they are just begging to be typed out.

Until Next Time...


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